"The Greatest" Grade: B
The process of grieving is commonly broken down into five stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. But what happens when your grief cannot be categorized into such clear-cut categories? The movie “The Greatest” shows us that loss is too personal to fit any formula. It is the story of a family trying to understand not only their own grief, but also how their dead son’s pregnant girlfriend fits into their lives.
After spending only one night together, Rose (Carey Mulligan) was certain that Bennett was the love of her life. However, the innocence of young love quickly comes crashing down as Bennett dies in a car accident, and Rose soon learns she is pregnant with his child. She arrives at his parents’ house in the hopes that they will help her get to know Bennett. The father is quick to change the subject every time his son’s name is mentioned, but soon warms to Rose. Conversely, all the mother wants to do is talk about her son and learn about the last few minutes of his life, yet she refuses to get to know the one person who was with him at the end.
The way the parents deal with their grief is best encapsulated in a scene where the father, Allen (Pierce Brosnan) is sitting upright and wide-eyed in bed while his wife, Grace (Susan Sarandon) sleeps beside him. Grace wakes and, upon the realization that it was not a bad dream and her son really is dead, she bursts into tears. Allen refuses to dwell on Bennett, and yet Grace is overly attached to his memory. In the process of their conflicting sorrows, they alienate their younger son, Ryan (Johnny Simmons), who constantly feels overshadowed by his older brother, even in death. Ryan attends a support group for kids who have lost siblings because he thinks it’s what he’s supposed to do. Upon learning that Rose is pregnant he remarks, “It figures. The one bad thing my brother ever does and he’s not even around to get in trouble for it.”
Sarandon established her capabilities and range as an actress long ago. While she does an exceptional job portraying a mother paralyzed by the loss of her son, the acting seems somewhat repetitive given her role in “Moonlight Mile,” a 2002 film with a similar premise. It’s hard to see Brosnan playing a character that does not drive an Aston Martin or have a license to kill, but he reminds the audience that he has more depth than that and adequately depicts a father who does not want to admit that the death of his son has affected him.
The younger members of the cast, Carey Mulligan and Johnny Simmons, are the highlight of the movie. Simmons handles the complexities of his character’s role well. He wants to hate his brother for all the attention he gets even after he’s dead, but he admits that he truly misses him. He also provides the fleeting moments of comic relief to an otherwise somber plot. Mulligan has quickly become one of the industry’s most recent talked-about actresses. She was relatively unknown until her recent role in “An Education” garnered her an Academy Award nomination. Mulligan acts with a grace and deliberation that is well beyond her years and qualities that are highlighted in this role as she strives to incorporate herself into a family that is falling apart.
This movie sends the message that one aspect of grief commonly goes overlooked — its ability to bring people together. Screened last year at several film festivals, “The Greatest” opens in select D.C. theaters April 16.
You can reach this writer at thescene@theeagleonline.com.
