“It was probably not the wisest way to spend a honeymoon,” Brad Pitt recently told V Magazine. "But then again, fighting to make something together, what better metaphor for marriage? It’s not a film that responds to the current zeitgeist or storytelling – rather, a quiet, mature look at the challenges of love and adult loss.”
Pitt’s talking about “By The Sea,” the third directorial effort from his wife Angelina Jolie Pitt. And he’s right about its scale. Perhaps wanting to shy away from the largesse of “Unbroken,” for her follow-up, Jolie decided to make something in the artsy European mold of the 1960s and ‘70s—a marriage in crisis with nods to filmmakers like Luchino Visconti, Michelangelo Antonioni and Roberto Rossellini’s “Journey To Italy.” Here’s the official synopsis:
Written, directed and produced by Academy Award® winner Angelina Jolie Pitt, By the Sea serves as her directorial follow-up to Universal Pictures’ epic Unbroken. By the Sea follows an American writer named Roland (Pitt) and his wife, Vanessa (Jolie Pitt), who arrive in a tranquil and picturesque seaside resort in 1970s France, their marriage in apparent crisis. As they spend time with fellow travelers, including young newlyweds Lea (Laurent) and François (Poupaud), and village locals Michel (Arestrup) and Patrice (Bohringer), the couple begins to come to terms with unresolved issues in their own lives.
In its style, and its treatment of themes of the human experience, By the Sea is inspired by European cinema and theater of the ’60s and ’70s. Jolie Pitt is joined behind the scenes by a key crew that includes cinematographer Christian Berger (The White Ribbon), who used his Cine Reflect Lighting System to shoot the film; production designer Jon Hutman (Unbroken); editor Patricia Rommel (The Lives of Others); and costume designer Ellen Mirojnick (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps). Pitt joins her in production duties, while Chris Brigham (Inception), Holly Goline-Sadowski (Unbroken) and Michael Vieira (Unbroken) serve as executive producers.
Co-starring an international ensemble led by Mélanie Laurent, Melvil Poupaud, Niels Arestrup and Richard Bohringer, “By The Sea” will make its worldwide premiere at the upcoming AFI Festival in November, and will open a few days later on November 13th. Watch the new trailer below.