There was something about The Goldfinch from the very first time I saw the trailer. While some of my friends might’ve saw the trailer as “pretentious,” there was something about the mysteriousness of the trailer that intrigued me about the film. I couldn’t quite place where my curiosity was coming from but once I saw the cast and the director, I couldn’t help but be a bit excited to see what the film would be about. As weeks got closer to its release, I had hoped that it could be something worth remembering. Sadly, that ended up not being the case.
The Goldfinch follows the life of Theo Decker, a survivor of a deadly museum bombing that took the life of his mother. It follows him as an adult (played by Ansel Elgort) and as a child (Oakes Fegley), chronicling his life post-bombing and what events led him to becoming the man we see at the very beginning of the film. From being taken in by the affluent Barbour family to being whisked away to Vegas by his deadbeat dad (Luke Wilson), the film spends a good amount of time showing where the aftermath of the bombing took him. His life takes him to an antique shop owner (Jeffrey Wright), a Ukranian delinquent (Finn Wolfhard/Aneurin Barnard), and meeting the first love of his life (Aimee Laurence/Ashleigh Cummings). It takes him through peaks and valleys that ultimately led him to become a charismatic, intelligent antiques dealer that is holding on to some terrible secrets.
One secret, in particular, seems to derail his recovery. In the aftermath of the bombing, authorities discover that a specific painting (The Goldfinch that the film takes its title from) is nowhere to be found. After some time has passed, it is declared that it was destroyed in the bombing, forever being a lost piece of history. However, that isn’t the case; In fact, Theo knows something about The Goldfinch that no one else knows. He planned to hold onto that secret for the rest of his life until an event causes it to resurface, forcing him to face his demons in order to make things right.
One of the biggest issues with the film is that the script feels like a skeleton version of the 2013 novel. To be fair, when it comes to a novel that is nearly pushing eight hundred pages, it makes sense to trim the details for a film adaptation, especially if the writer doesn’t want the film to end up being four or five hours. However, the final product has the emotional density of a book synopsis on Wikipedia. There are so many moments in the film that are meant to be emotional but end up falling flat because it’s being rushed to get to the next moment of Theo’s life. During nearly every scene, I had a moment where I’d think to myself Man, there’s so much potential here being wasted.
A great example is a plot point that happens towards the end of the second act. As an audience member, when this development is revealed, you’re supposed to be shocked. The film wants your jaw to be wide open, encouraging you to look back at the last two hours and see if you ever caught what they were setting up at this very moment. The film wants this to be the moment where you tell all of your friends after the film about this unforgettable moment in The Goldfinch. Unfortunately, due to its editing and barren plot, all that the film could muster out of me was an uninterested Ahh...what a surprise as I wonder to myself how much longer the film has left.
Speaking of editing, the film’s got issues there. In terms of scene-by-scene editing, there isn’t anything inherently wrong with what the film is doing. However, on a macro level, I genuinely don’t understand why the film progresses itself in such a jumbled way. Going into the film, I assumed the film would work like this: start with adult Theo Decker, establish where he is in life, and then cut back to his teenage years when it’s fitting to give his current relationships/situations/problems context for the audience. However, instead of that, the film decides to cut at random times, starting at the penultimate moment of the movie only to cut to young Theo hours after the bombing, never even showing enough of the inciting incident until the film is moments away from the end.
When the bizarre editing choices and thin plot cross paths, The Goldfinch feels like a film that’s surprisingly embarrassed by itself. It almost feels like the film is trying to mask its barren adaptation through awkward time jumps, forcing the audience to believe that these decisions were made for the benefit of the plot. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. While the film seems to take the novel’s framing device as inspiration, it could’ve told the story chronologically instead and it wouldn’t have made a difference. A film should use flashbacks in order to enrich the story’s present; The Goldfinch, on the other hand, uses them as an attempt to hide the fact that there is not much story to enrich in the first place.
Now with all of those criticisms out in the open, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I enjoyed certain aspects of The Goldfinch immensely. First off, the film’s cinematography is beautiful. Roger Deakins’ eye never ceases to impress me, making several scenes in the film look as pristine and as pretty as a piece of art in a museum. In addition, the cast is great with genuinely wonderful performances coming out of Nicole Kidman, Jeffrey Wright, Aneurin Barnard, and Ansel Elgort. Elgort particularly stands out the most because his version of the damaged, reserved Theo perfectly captures the character’s guilt and dream to destroy the fear that has been building inside of him for so many years. Due to the empty nature of the script, there’s not much given to their characters but that doesn’t stop the cast from giving them the dimensions they need for some impressive moments of acting.
In the end, a lot of my frustrations with The Goldfinch stem from the fact that I was sold on the premise and wanted so much more. I could see a phenomenal book trying to break out of a mediocre film adaption, trying to convey to the audience why it has gotten critical praise over the years. The film adaptation isn’t the worst film I’ve seen this year but it’s definitely one that left a bad taste in my mouth when I left the theater feeling empty and bummed out. If this film was done right, I could’ve seen it be a definite contender for several Oscars. Instead, I’ll just have to get the book, read it, and be frustrated with the masterpiece we never got on-screen.