Eden
The producers of the new Irish relationship downer, "Eden," want us to know that they also brought us "Once," that cloying hit movie about the Irish dude and Czech lady who sang the same ballad over and over again. "Eden" is "Once" after two kids and 10 years of marriage have sucked the music out of life.
The movie focuses on the days before the 10th anniversary of Breda (Eileen Walsh) and Billy (Aidan Kelly). Whenever Billy comes up with an excuse to make an abrupt exit to the nearest pub or to suddenly abort a lovemaking session, Breda's face drops into the pits of despair. On a human level, that's a terrible position for a wife. As drama, it's a chore. She's so desperate for Billy to notice her that there's no room left for any sort of character to develop.
Breda loses weight, gets a haircut, buys a nice dress, and hires a baby sitter for their big night out. But Billy can't stop thinking about a cute, flirty girl a decade younger. And even if he could, the filmmakers insist on having this woman pop up in the darnedest places - at the pub, on the side of the road, at a climactic alcohol-soaked house party.
"Eden" is adapted by Eugene O'Brien from his play. Watching Breda and Billy's awkward silences and more awkward altercations on stage would feel like a punishment, especially without the cheap blandishments of Declan Recks's direction. (When Breda opts to masturbate while soaking in the tub, the camera sneaks behind a pane of red glass to watch.)
There's more than a notion of truth in this marriage - Billy and Breda seem to be in their early 30s, and they long for the good old days before the routine of parenthood turned everything so serious. But the movie arrives at that truth in the first 10 minutes and flogs it to death. Walsh and Kelly give earnest performances, but this is a movie that could have gone two ways - big and tragic or quiet and painful - and winds up being neither.
Wesley Morris can be reached at wmorris@globe.com. For more on movies, go to www. boston.com/movienation.
Video
