Serena Reviews

Even though this movie was a big critical and commercial flop when it was released, since I have a weak spot for Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even it didn’t turn out to be a complete failure, it wasn’t really far from it, I’m afraid. I mean, it might have been interesting on paper but pretty much nothing really worked with this flick. First of all, even though Lawrence and Cooper are some of the most interesting actors at work nowadays, they were actually both pretty weak here and not convincing at all. It didn’t help that their characters were never really fascinating or entertaining at all. Susanne Bier was also a interesting choice and, even though her first English speaking feature (‘Things We Lost in the Fire’) was decent enough, this time around, she never seemed to be able to properly handle this material. I mean, sure, the whole thing was pretty to look at, the time period was fairly well displayed but her directing felt completely flat. Apparently, Darren Aronofsky was attached to this project and you might wonder what he could have done with this material. On the other hand, even though this story was probably supposed to be some kind of epic doomed romantic tale, it felt rather derivative and it just never grabbed me. Anyway, to conclude, even though I have seen worse, the damned thing was really weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look.