“Seberg”: Another Flawed Biopic
Benedict Andrews’s Seberg endeavors to recount the true tale of French New Wave star Jean Seberg (Kristen Stewart) and her involvement in civil rights activism; an involvement that soon put her in the crosshairs of J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI COINTELPRO (counterintelligence program). Suddenly, Ms. Seberg finds herself haunted by an unseen presence, and paranoia begins to grasp her. The actress’s life crumbles around her as depression and madness close in, all while the FBI continues to rattle her cage. Beautifully filmed and adequately acted, Seberg makes an attempt to delve into the life of its ill-fated subject, but unfortunately Seberg crumbles under the weight of its own patchwork script and incoherent message.
Jean Seberg, the beauty queen and rising star, travels from Paris to Los Angeles for a new movie. Upon arriving at the airport, a sea of reporters gather around members of the Black Panther Party, led by Hakim Jamal (Anthony Mackie). Jean joins the group and poses for a photo with her fist held high. Soon after, both the media and the FBI have acutely become aware of Jean’s political leanings and charitable donations. This leads to constant surveillance by the COINTELPRO in the matters of Jean Seberg and her burgeoning romantic relationship with Hakim Jamal. Periphery characters include Zazie Beetz as Jamal’s wife, Dorothy, Jack O’Connell and Vince Vaughn as FBI agents Jack Solomon and Carl Kowalski, and Margaret Qualley as Jack’s wife, Linette, all vie for screen time in Seberg’s story. Pursued by the FBI and struggling with the media spotlight, Seberg grapples with paranoia and dread. The seen and unseen rattle her existence as she ventures further into despair. Seberg attempts to portray all the nuances of Jean Seberg’s experience quite carefully, but instead loses focus and the resulting film falters mightily.
Rachel Morrison’s beautiful cinematography is moody and eloquent. The lighting and camera movements perfectly track Jean’s descent, while offering a subtleness that strikes a perfect balance of alluring and alarming. As exquisite as this film is to watch, it becomes difficult due to the unwieldy script. Far too much attention is given to FBI agents Solomon and Kowalski. Kowalski is a brash, over-the-top racist and misogynist. The film goes out of its way to depict Kowalski’s home life and his interaction with other agents. Solomon, however, acts as a benevolent counterpart to Kowalski as his character somehow attempts to depict the overly invasive techniques of the FBI as atrocious, while also admitting that some agents were good-natured. What’s irreconcilable is how complicit Solomon is all the FBI’s affairs and while he is shown to have a guilty conscience, he never stands up to such abuses. One could understand how an introduction of FBI agents would round out a story, but there is so much of this bloated FBI storyline that Seberg’s own story begins to get lost. After about half of the film, it feels as though this is a story about the FBI’s latent racism and need for revenge on liberal Hollywood, instead of a film based on Jean Seberg’s life experiences.
Kristen Stewart does her best in her role. It is always difficult to assume another known identity for a biopic. It may be poor direction or even lack of interest in depicting Jean Seberg with any type of agency in her own story, but there is a disconnect between Stewart’s depiction and the story being told. It almost feels as though she is being held back and unable to fully envelop or digest the role properly. Through all the challenges that Stewart faces in a role such as this, she still manages to resonate and deliver a wonderful performance. Carrying a film such as this on one’s shoulders is a big responsibility. Secondary characters are usually provided to lift some of the story, however the secondary characters in Seberg end up being more problematic than not.
As misunderstood as the film’s titular character happens to be, the women in Seberg get an equal amount of mistreatment. Zazie Beetz and Margaret Qualley are two actors that have made indelible marks in cinema recently, but in Seberg they are relegated to one-dimensional and similar roles. Both play wives of prominent characters. Anthony Mackie’s character of Hakim Jamal is focused and developed. Jack O’Connell’s Agent Solomon is soft-spoken and righteous. Their wives, on the other hand, are mere vessels that provide nothing to the story except anger for how much their husbands care about Jean Seberg. Jealousy and bitterness seem to be all the script can muster for such talented actors. In fact, the women of Seberg, save Jean Seberg herself, all seem to have no solid character traits at all. In a film about the systemic misogyny and racism that silently guide the FBI, the film seems to be guided by the same principles. The stereotype of the jealous wife drives many of the women in Seberg, and once again this highlights the importance of the male characters…in a film supposedly based on the real-life events of a woman. The scenes about the FBI and their wives and the scenes with Hakim and Dorothy all feel extremely platitudinous, problematic, and tone deaf.
Overall, and at best, Seberg can be used as an introduction to who Jean Seberg was in life. It is difficult to use Seberg as a measuring stick for her greatness. I implore you to seek out some of her films, particularly her French films such as her breakout role in Breathless (1960) and get to know her as an actress and a person. Seberg works as a beautifully shot yet flawed biopic whose main character struggles for the spotlight in her own story.
Kristen Stewart will soon have another famous woman to portray as she is slated to take on the role of Princess Diana in an upcoming film. Seberg is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
