Cake

Jennifer Aniston looks deflated in Cake.  She's worn, scarred, speaks with a low croak in her voice and moves as if her entire body has been shattered.  Of course, that's the way her character, Claire, is supposed to be.  She's playing a woman who is at a point where she's struggling to recover, while at the same time wondering what the point of recovering is.  This is not the first time Aniston has ditched her cheerful comedic image for a film, but it is one of her better attempts.

When we first meet Claire, she's at a female support group for chronic pain sufferers where it looks like she can hardly hold in her contempt for the group leader.  One of the ladies in the group has recently committed suicide, and rather than be disturbed, Claire is oddly fascinated by it.  She wants to know how long she hesitated (or if she hesitated at all) before she threw herself off a highway overpass.  This morbid curiosity turns off the women in the group, and she is kicked out.  As we will see throughout the film, Claire has a knack for burning bridges with her sharp tongue and acidic sarcasm.   She's separated from her husband (due to the turmoil she has endured the past year from her broken body and spirit), and has become addicted to pain killers.  The only person who seems to be able to tolerate her is her Mexican housekeeper, Silvana (Adriana Barraza), who drives Claire around, keeps up the house and takes the blunt of her verbal abuse.

One of the joys of the screenplay is that we don't immediately know what happened to Claire.  The movie clues us in little by little, and when the answer is given, it's truly heartbreaking.  All we do know for most of the film is that Claire is completely shattered, body and soul, and that she too is contemplating taking her own life, and frequently attempts to when no one is around.  She is egged on in her efforts by the spirit of the woman from the support group who died (Anna Kendrick), who always seems to appear whenever Claire is thinking of ending it all.  This fascination with the woman who haunts her mind leads her to track down the woman's husband (Sam Worthington), who is struggling to move on in his own way, and puts on a brave face for his five-year-old son (Evan O'Toole).  The relationship they build is a quiet and guarded one, but one that at least hints at a future for both of them.

Cake can be a very grim and somber film, but it is never so much so that we're turned off by it.  Claire is sharp witted and has an angry sense of humor about her situation that seems natural.  It's how she deals with her situation.  The movie has a quiet honesty to it that I quite enjoyed.  It doesn't play up the situations of the characters who are in pain (either emotionally or physically, or sometimes both) with forced melodrama.  There are no big, sappy speeches, and when one of the characters does have a break down and cries, it is played softly and doesn't feel overplayed for dramatic effect.  There is a subtlety to the way this movie handles depression.  I got a little worried when the movie started to use a "ghost" to represent Claire's state of mind when she is close to the edge emotionally, but the movie handles it well, and it never comes across as being forced or cheesy.

I have heard other critics complain that the pace of the film is sluggish, or that the film is unbalanced when it comes to its sarcastic humor and drama.  I, for one, never found the film boring.  Yes, it is paced somewhat slow, and it lingers on a couple shots a little too long, but I never felt like the energy or emotion of the film was lacking.  As for the second issue, I think it reaches a good balance juggling the two tones.  The only thing I did not like was the character of Silvana, who I don't think is developed enough.  We never really learn why she puts up with the abuse Claire so frequently gives her.  Yes, I get that she is a good person, and yes, I get that she sees good in Claire that many do not.  I just wanted the movie to go deeper into her, and the relationship between the two women.  It would have added another interesting dramatic layer to the film.

Cake never quite reaches greatness, but it is enjoyable all the way through and it has a strong performance by Aniston at the center.  I've heard that the original script is much better than what wound up on the screen, but I have not read it, so I can't judge.  All I can say is I found the movie effective.  It moved me on occasion, and it has a great final shot that I wouldn't dream of spoiling.

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