The Goldfinch

(spoiler free)

There were high hopes for John Crowley’s film adaptation of Donna Tartt’s award winning novel ‘The Goldfinch’, with a quiet Oscar buzz following its post-production. After debuting at Toronto Film Festival, these hopes were dashed. With poor reviews and disappointing box office returns across the pond expectations have taken a serious beating, but could this be a blessing in disguise for its UK release?

‘The Goldfinch’ tells the story of Theo, a young man with a troubled past, caused by a terrorist attack on an art gallery he and his mother had been visiting. Ansel Elgort plays a grown up Theo with Oakes Fegley portraying him as a child. The narrative tells his story in a non-linear fashion, choosing to jump between the stages of Theo’s life instead of going from start to finish. This is an approach that can work for films, especially those that have a lengthy runtime, as is the case here. However, on this occasion this technique only hampers the storytelling. The back and forth between time periods often removes the impact of the overall story, yes it’s important to understand the context of what the characters have been through and where they’ve come from but the passing of time feels much shorter than it actually is due to the poor construction of the narrative.  This feeds immediately into another issue with the story, making major plot developments lack the power that they should have. There seems to be a lack of imagination present which is a shame as the overall story is one of much intrigue but the way it has been brought to the screen unfortunately fails to capture this.

At two and a half hours audience members may get comfy in their seats, although not too comfy as nodding off is a serious possibility here. The film fails to earn this exacerbated run time, especially in its opening act. At first there are far too many details held back meaning it’s a struggle for viewers to invest in the plot or characters seen meandering through the screenplay. The main cast, whilst performing to a good standard, rarely make up for the lacking narrative which is somewhat of a surprise considering the a-list talent attached to this production. It’s instead the smaller supporting cast members, such as Sarah Paulson & Finn Wolfhard, who impress the most, injecting some hugely needed energy into the film. There is an interesting story to be told here, and ‘The Goldfinch’ does have engaging characters and for brief moments it does all come together but for the majority of the film this simply isn’t achieved.

So although isolated scenes showcase what could have been, frustratingly the picture as a whole never reaches its full potential. What should have been an emotionally affecting drama has sadly ended up being an at times painfully dull cinematic adaptation. Its narrative is told in a way that causes itself more problems than it does enhance the stronger storytelling foundations that it is built on. The cast do their best, with the supporting turns at least salvaging some entertainment for audiences but ultimately the film’s flaws, predominately with its screenplay and pacing consistently  prevent ‘The Goldfinch’ from taking full flight.

Written by Hamish Calvert

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STAR RATING –★★

Question: What is your favourite adapted screenplay of the year so far?
(Leave your answers in the comments section below!)

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Thanks to Movie House Cinemas for screening access