The Garden of Eden (2008) Reviews

• Could have been brilliant.

  tony-22-6154242011-04-07

  I'm a huge Ernest Hemingway fan and The Garden of Eden is by far my favorite novel. I must have read it a dozen times. I was reluctant to even watch the film - knowing that it could never live up to the book. Well, I did anyway. The photography is great. I lived in the south of France for seven years and I've always been in love with the region. But, it appears that most of the filming was done in Spain. The direction and acting are brilliant. However, this has to be one of the worst screenplay adaptations of a novel ever. Much of the very "real to life" dialogue is totally absent from the film. The true motivations of the characters (and their respective dilemmas) are underdeveloped. Oh well... Read the book.

• Movie Review: 'Hemingway's Garden of Eden'

  d_art2011-04-01

  Based on a posthumously released novel written by Ernest Hemingway, Garden of Eden takes place prior to the Great Depression, during the Jazz age, following a successful young American writer, David Bourne (Jack Houston), and his new bride, Catherine (Mena Suvari), a rich heiress, who are on an extended honeymoon in Europe. During the honeymoon, Catherine starts to get restless and begins playing bizarre mind games with David, testing his devotion. To David's discomfort, she persuades him to role play in the bedroom, with her as the boy and him as the girl. Things get stranger when Catherine develops a relationship with an Italian girl, Marita (Caterina Murino), and brings her to him as a "present", even suggesting they take turns being David's wife. Directed by John Irvin (Hamburger Hill, Dogs of War), this film is more character-driven than plot-driven. There is much sex going on, focusing on the strange love triangle between David, Catherine, and Marita. The focus and the pace of the film changes noticeably when it moves on to David's past memories of his father, an elephant hunter in Africa. These memories, which are quite out of place from the rest of the film, become material for David's new book. This film is beautiful to look at. It is a period film--the mood, clothing, and environments recreate the early part of the 20th century in fine detail, soft sepia filters, and a pastel color scheme. There's an impressive tracking shot in the beginning of an outdoor banquet, of rich folks raising their glasses in slow motion. We soon see a naked lady being filmed at a picnic, re-enacting Manet's "The Luncheon on the Grass". Small moments like these amusingly portrays a certain mindset of this particular society. Advertisement It the film, David Bourne appears to be Hemingway's alter ego. While Jack Huston looks like the young Hemingway, his character is far from the heavy-drinking, macho guy the famous author was known for. He is constantly pushed around by the neurotic Catherine, whom he is always trying to please, which becomes increasingly hard to do. Catherine has some amount of disdain for David's work and becomes jealous when Marita admits to having read his transcript. Throughout the film, David half-jokingly calls Catherine "Devil." Admittedly, the characters here are not very engaging. Jack Houston does what he can with his role, but his character never feels like a whole person. Mena Suvari has a meatier role as Catherine, who brings much intensity to the film. However, we never quite know why she acts the way she does and her dialogue feels stilted. Caterina Murino (Casino Royale) is competent as Marita, despite the character's lack of complexity. Given the title of the film, Garden of Eden, a reference to the Bible, one might say David represents Adam and Cartherine represents Eve. Perhaps the theme speaks about a picture-perfect couple who are tempted toward a wrong way. In this film, though, it appears to be mostly Catherine who brings things down for them. Or, it could just be that Catherine is actually the serpent (as David called her "Devil.") bringing Marita (Catherine's "present") as the fruit to tempt David to fall. It is indicated that Catherine wants to share her "sin" (Marita) with David to feel less guilty about her extramarital relationship with Marita. One wonders if Hemingway could be using Catherine to represent certain attitudes within radical feminism. The film also touches upon morality and class. Catherine says something along the lines of "we are not like normal people--we can live our life however we want." Given that this film was based on an incomplete novel, it is hard to say what Hemingway really wanted to say, or if he had a particular message. It could just be a character study. As it is, the film feels uneven and the characters are not very engaging. Perhaps it is meant to be read as a novel and not seen as a film. More of my movie review updates can be found at http://twitter.com/d_art

• Potential well wasted

  rwalton9992011-03-10

  Hollywood cannot make these European style movies yet, so why do they keep trying? The casting was quizzical to say the least. Mena Suvari is not sufficiently sophisticated as a person nor as an actress to carry the role.Neither is she pretty enough although she was able to portray the mentally-suspect aspects of the role. A bit too young for an American ingénue with money,in the roaring twenties in Paris. Jack Huston seemingly gave his best effort,but honestly! He hardly looked or acted like a post war American,let alone a Hemingway character. Caterina Murino......wow, much better as Solange in her 'Bond' role,fair to say she added a bit of class,albeit a bit too subdued due to her confusing part in the play. I imagine that some of the best parts of this film ended up on the cutting room floor.....sadly. I read the book a long time ago and maybe I should revisit it. Had I not known before watching this film,that it was based on an Hemingway novel,my best guess would have been that it was based on an Hemingway wannabe's novella.

• Medriocre but well acted

  frantastika2011-05-31

  This is a very mediocre movie with really good actors who have done everything to give shape to this story. Mena Suvari and Caterina Murino are great in their roles even if these roles are incomplete for understand their stories. For Jack Huston I did not feel anything. He is just not the right actor for the role maybe, he seems too young and perfect to be credible. The story remains shallow, despite the inspiring beginning and how seductive the first 30 minutes looks - it then became flat. The characters are not developed enough to make them believable. They are a cool couple but without any reason to do what they do?. Sad to see what could be a good movie in the right hands. The photography and aesthetic in the movie is good, also beautiful locations, however the lack of depth make this almost disappear. I feel disappointed after watching it.

• Garden of Eden

  DamselDragonfly2011-01-17

  I watched "Garden of Eden" last night.Other then the amazing scenery the acting was crap and the entire movie had no substance,just a few sexually explicit scenes of nude bodies in the throes of copulation. The scenes of the hunting of the elephant in Africa were intense.The relationship between the father and son left one to wonder why he had bothered to include his son at all. If you see the preview you have seen this movie. I was so not pleased with this. I can not find anything of value in it except for the beautiful soundtrack. The music used was from Globus~ Orchards of Mines and Serenata Immortale by Immediate music. They could have greatly improved the movie by having the triangle that was being weaved by the wife visualized.