Illustration by Michael DiMilo
History Lessons: Review of The Pale Blue Eye
By Geoff Carter
★★★ 1/2
The speculative film, alternate history, or just plain fantasy film is, at first glance, more common than one might think. The Nine Percent Solution, in which Sherlock Holmes encounters Sigmund Freud, The Man in the High Castle, which explores what might have happened had the Axis Powers won World War II, or Red Dawn, about a Russian invasion of the U.S., all closely examine the what-if question.
One of the best at this genre is Quentin Tarantino, whose alternate histories sometimes go way over the top. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Inglorious Basterds, and Django Unchained take us into preferred versions of our reality, and—of course—our realities.
A subgenre of the alternative history is alternative literary history, which inserts a famous literary figure into a new and improved reality. Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris places Hemingway, the Fitzgeralds, and other notables into a man’s waking dream, The League of Extraordinary Gentleman puts all sorts of English 18th century literary heroes/villains like Mina Harker, The Invisible Man, and Dr. Jekyll (and friend) on the trail of archvillain Dr. Moriarity. While some of the films—like the aforementioned Gentlemen—are not very good, they do purvey an extra layer of self-referential knowledge onto the audience, as they look for subtle—and overt—allusions to other works, which turns into sort of an easter egg hunt for the audience.
The Pale Blue Eye is the latest example of this type of film. Set on the West Point campus in the 1840s, the story follows Augustus Landor (Christian Bale) a veteran detective and alcoholic who is commissioned by the college to solve the murder of one of its cadets. Lander befriends a young cadet named Edgar Allen Poe (Harry Melling) and recruits him to help solve the crime.
A guard discovers the body of Cadet Leroy Fry (Steven Maier) who had been hanged and had his heart removed from his body. According to the resident physician, Dr. Daniel Marquis (Toby Jones), the heart had been removed after death and his body had marks indicating he may have been murdered. Landor finds a note in Fry’s hand that the doctor had somehow overlooked. He believes it is a summons to his murder and gives it to Poe to decipher.
After some farm animals are found mutilated, Landor believes the murders may be linked to some sort of satanic ritual. Then Cadet Ballinger (Fred Hechinger) is found dead and mutilated. He has been castrated as well as also having his heart removed. A third cadet, Stoddard, disappears, and Poe and Landor theorize he may have suspected he was next in line.
Poe, meanwhile, woos Lea Marquis (Lucy Boynton), the doctor’s daughter. While they are out walking, she has a sudden violent seizure. The doctor and his rather peculiar and inquisitive wife Julia (Gillian Anderson) run into Landor. Julia seems eager to know details of the investigation.
Artemus Marquis (Harry Lawtey), although a classmate of Poe’s, treats him with a thinly veiled contempt. While at dinner at the Marquis residence, Landor runs across evidence that the family has a dark and mysterious link to their past and that the doctor is practicing the dark arts in order to cure Lea of her chronic affliction. Things come to a rather violent head, and the murders are solved—at least seemingly solved.
The Pale Blue Eye is an intriguing movie. Not only does it boast an only slightly fictionalized backstory (Poe really did attend West Point), but the narrative speculates on events that may have been the source material for some of Poe’s later work. Like many reimaginings of history, audience members (this one at least) find themselves trying to connect the dots between the past and present—as previously stated, sort of an Easter egg hunt.
Of course, any tale including Poe, dismembered bodies—specifically hearts, harkens back to his gripping short story “The Tell-Tale Heart”. His hopeless, and unrequited love for Lea, hints at the morbid love poems “Lenore” and “Annabelle Lee”. He also wrote “Landor’s Cottage” a work describing a beautiful country cottage. Other possible references include “The Raven”, “Fall of the House of Usher”, and “The Raven”. The pale blue eye is a reference to the eye of the murdered old man in “The Tell-Tale Heart”, the eye which drives the protagonist mad.
All allusion hunting aside, the film itself is a somewhat absorbing detective story. Until the end, when it veers into the realm of the supernatural and the more than slightly implausible, it is an absorbing mystery. The film takes place in the wintertime in the Hudson Valley and is beautifully shot. The languid blues of the snow and ice lend a melancholy and subdued quality to the film. It is a world where the sun rarely shines—a reflection of Poe’s own melancholy. The dark interiors also work to define this morbid sensibility.
Landor, the retired detective played by Christian Bale, is a heart of darkness unto himself. Surprisingly, the only glimmers of optimism and hope in the film seem to come from Poe himself. Young, idealistic, and in love, he will succumb to the evil designs of the Marquis family and disappointment of his youthful ideal.
As Poe, Harry Melling is nearly a dead ringer for the renowned author. Besides the physical similarities, Melling portrays the poet with a dynamic intensity that nearly takes over the screen. Although at times, he seems to go a bit overboard with his portrayal, his portrayal of Poe—which must be difficult considering premade audience expectations—is spot on. As Landor, Christian Bale hand in a competent but somewhat (for him) underwhelming performance. He is an inscrutable man whose motives are so well-hidden that viewers might find sympathizing with him difficult. The supporting cast is good but not great—except for Gillian Anderson. As Julia Marquis, her clipped tone and haughty arrogance are so highly strung, the audience is left wondering whether her Julia is cynical, evil, or meant to be a parody.
All in all, The Pale Blue Eye is good entertainment. It is by no means a great film, but like Inglorious Basterds or The Man in the High Castle, it begs the question of how far the filmmaker will veer from historical (or literary) truth for artistic purposes–or just plain fun. This game within a game helps turn a mediocre film into great entertainment, like doing a crossword puzzle during a conversation with your spouse.
Available on Netflix