La grande traversée

This film is very human, very touching and real, and oh so Steven Soderbergh. Except for his most commercial efforts, all of Soderbergh's films are experimental in some way or another and many have also used improvisation, like this film. If you've lived a life and have had strange changes in your friendships with groups of people over the years, you will get a lot from this film and be able to relate to it and all the interesting characters. People's ideals and motivations change throughout their lives, and it's reflected here. The past is remembered differently by different people. While some can move on from the past, others cannot. Some people grow and change while others remain the same. The story in the film reflects all of this beautifully. Maybe if you're still very young, relatively inexperienced, and haven't done much, or lived, or traveled, this isn't the movie for you. But if you are okay with a film that takes its time and sometimes meanders to strange places, but is always fascinating, like a life well lived, watch, rate and review!

I approached this title with extreme skepticism, but from the beginning it spoke to me in a realist, naturalist and unpolished sense. Every conversation you hear feels raw and improvised like in real life however there is huge contrast when it comes to the flow and the planning of the film which feels effortless and elegant. It is a surprisingly beautiful piece of cinema touching on an artist's social struggle and the many ways one can touch other people's lives. In my opinion, essentially it is a film about the intricacy of everyday relationships and an artist's struggle between their social life and their work. It is about self-obsession and betrayal. And the loose way these themes have been portrayed in, gives you an odd sense of rhythm, the kind that you find in an actual conversation. At the end of the day the film feels like a conversation, and a beautiful and moving one at that. With the help of brilliant acting and simple but alluring cinematography.

Not so much a movie as it was an outline for a movie. I loved the premise and the glimpses of character we see, but the improvised rambling felt like aimless meandering. The viewer is left feeling frustrated and lost.

The movie would have been so much more interesting with a defined structure. I loved Bergan's cynical and sassy character, and her trolling for rich men on the cruise could have been very funny with some well-written gags. Wiest's character is selfless and passionate, and we get a few small indications of how that impulse manifested itself in her youth, but how much more interesting would it have been had we seen perhaps how her giving nature affected her life (both the good and the bad). Streep plays a writer whose work delves deeply into others' lives, and at the same time, she is unable to connect with anyone. Is she just self-absorbed, or does she yearn for human interaction? I wish we could have seen more of that struggle within her.

And most of all, we never really find out exactly what Streep's character has written about Bergan's character that made Bergan's husband divorce her so many years ago. It's hinted at, and I think I sort of figured it out. But that information needed to be spelled out for the viewer.

There's also another character I would have loved to see more of. A highly successful mystery writer is also on the ship. Streep wants to pooh-pooh him as a hack, but he's actually thoughtful in terms of his work and his ability to "read" other people. There's a scene in which Streep is giving a talk on board, and the mystery writer asks a question about one of her books that makes it clear that he deeply respects her writing, and you can see Streep's heart melt with joy at being acknowledged. It is one of the only really moving moments of the film.

Oh yeah, there's a subplot with Streep's nephew and the employee from her publisher assigned to her. Completely useless.

What a disappointment! What a waste!

I understand that they thought they were creating a "life like" cinematic piece but this movie is living proof that if you don't have a good story then no matter how perfect the acting is nothing will save your movie. This movie had NO story. No plot. Absolutely nothing happened. I'm not even joking - in the 2 hours it took me to watch this movie way more interesting things happened to me while I was sitting on the couch then in this movie - I went to the restroom a couple of times, got a few texts, ate dinner... There were so many random little "wtf" scenes here that went absolutely nowhere. The dialog is such a drag.... no one actually finishes their sentences. Everyone just rambles on and on for hours. Kind of like how I'm doing right now only 100 times worse. For the love of god - do yourself a favor - and skip this garbage. Let's show filmmakers that we deserve at least a good story, if nothing else!

Knowing ahead of watching that the dialog was totally unscripted and improvised I found myself appreciating the true art form by the actors. Knowing how petrified they all were during the shoot, it's never apparent from their seamless performances. They were all given a frame to stay in and also an ending to each scene. The rest is them and their own words and reactions. Shot in only 8 days, the film is a triumph of modern day filmmaking. My only criticism was the ambient lighting was at times distracting.