Starring: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Taraji P. Henson
Directed By: David Fincher
Written By: Eric Roth (screenplay), F. Scott Fitzgerald (short story)
Released: 2008
Grade: B

The Curious Case of Benjamin is the film adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story. It mostly takes the basic plot of a man being born old and growing young. There are many differences between the two including coming out as a wrinkled infant with old features instead of being born full grown. Writer, Eric Roth, and director, David Fincher, create their own story around the initial plot though. In many respects they would have to in order to turn a short story in to a 2 hour and 46 minute feature.

Benjamin’s (Pitt) mother died giving birth to him. The old characteristic of him as a new born baby looked like deformities. His father, grieving over the death of his wife, only saw a monster when he looked at Benjamin. He panicked and left him on someone’s doorstep. Queenie ( Henson) finds him there. She knows that because of the way he looks others will reject him. She takes care of him and becomes his mother. She was told that he isn’t expected to live very much longer since he has many diseases such as arthritis. Still, he continues to outlive his expectancy. Growing up with Queenie in the old folks home, Benjamin doesn’t really notice that he is that different since he looks similar to the other people there. Over the years he begins to look slightly younger very slowly. One day he meets Daisy (Elle Fanning). Despite their age, they connect with another from the very first glance. Daisy can tell that there is something very different about Benjamin and that there is a youthful spirit inside of him.

When Benjamin is 17 he leaves his home. He meets a number of people along the way who shape his life, particularly with his work on a tug boat. He has many experiences with the workers there, including drinking, going to a brothel, and soon after fighting in the war as a navy force. While Benjamin was gone Daisy (Blanchett) went to a ballet academy in New York City and is now a successful ballet dancer. When the two are reunited in their home of New Orleans a romance is added to their lifelong friendship. However, with one rejection it goes as a lost opportunity. The two don’t get this chance again until Daisy injures herself and comes back home to Benjamin who is there for her to see her get better. At this point they are closer in age than they have ever been before and just as in love as ever, it just feels right now. The two spend every moment together. Their relationship becomes problematic when Daisy gets pregnant. They both feel blessed, but Benjamin can’t help but worry. He worries about the baby turning out like him. Even if it doesn’t than he questions whether he can really be a father because of his decreasing age. The baby comes and is completely healthy. Benjamin spends her first year with her, but decides he must leave before she has a chance to remember him. He figures his daughter will be better off not getting confused by his strange youth and that she deserves someone who can remain to be a father. Years later, the two see each other again. Daisy is re-married and has a dance studio. Down the line, Benjamin looks as if he is a kid, one who has effects of old age and can’t remember Daisy let alone him eating breakfast minutes after he did.

Brad Pitt did very well with the different stages in his life. This was difficult as each contradicted each other. He had to look the part of the old physicality we saw as well as have that young, imaginative spirit, as he was much younger than he looked and experiencing many things for the first time. This was reversed as well, when he looks at his prime, he shows a maturity within him. Although, he did very well in his performances there wasn’t quite the level of connection with the audience that their should have been. Cate Blanchett did very well, especially when the two shared scenes the film seemed to invoke the most feeling, which overall was a weaker link in the film. Blanchett had the same struggles to deal with on a slightly lesser scale since there was less fear and confusion as her character was the norm rather than the exception. Passion and understanding were the constants in her character that Blanchett brought to life, which added a lot to her relationship with Benjamin. Taraji P. Henson did wonderfully as Benjamin’s adoptive mother. She was very warm and caring and perhaps the accepting. Elle Fanning also did well in her short amount of screen time as Daisy when she first meant Benjamin. In her eyes alone there was a great deal of conviction that really spoke to how close the two of them would be connected.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a very interesting film, particularly with the themes of life and death through age. It has a lot of similarities to a tale of eternal life: keeping youth when others are ageing, but having to lose everyone you love along the way. For most of his life Benjamin is very lonely. Loss is a major part of the film. The story itself is told to Daisy when she is on her death bed by her daughter. This girl is moments away from losing her mother. She already lost the man who raised her as her daughter and learns that her birth father is already dead. She takes in her father’s entire life. Just as soon as she gets a sense of getting to know him, she has to come to terms with the fact that she will never see him. Benjamin lost his mother upon his existence and although he came to know his father, it wasn’t until later that he realizes who he is and that he rejected him from birth. Between growing up in a retirement home, losing the married women he fell for, and fighting with many he was close to in the war there were countless numbers of people who Benjamin lost in his life.

Love within the context of age and fate is dealt with a lot, particularly through Daisy and Benjamin. There is no question that from the first time they met they were in love. They were both too young to really know what that meant and certainly to act on it. Before they can truly have a relationship there are many times over the years where they try, but it doesn’t work out for one reason or another. The idea behind this is fate, since they have always been close, but it wasn’t until they finally do have a romantic relationship together that they are roughly the same age physically as well as the amount of years they have been alive. They are “meeting in the middle”. They had to go through everything before this so they could be together when they were meant to be. Unfortunately, this doesn’t last as long as they would have liked it to. Not because of their feelings for one another, but because of Benjamin’s condition conflicting with the typical family structure. The love never goes away for either of them even when they haven’t seen each other for years and Daisy has remarried. Still, it questions which was stronger: their constant love or the difference that conflicts Benjamin.

I expected Benjamin to have the wisdom and memories that an older man would just in a child’s body towards the end of his life. He had aging characteristic such as Alzheimer’s disease and was living in a nursing home since he couldn’t care for himself anymore. I really liked the role reversal between Daisy and Benjamin. He had cared for her so much of her life, even when she was older, but injured from her accident. They see each other when he looks the age that she was when they met. Several years beyond that when he is the same size he was when he was born she is the one caring for him as a mother would in his last moments in life. The ending isn’t anything magical and not what is expected after all of the build up of over 2 ½ hours. In many ways though, by doing this, it rejects what the audience may want to see and gives us something realistic and true to the film that came before it. It follows the themes I have discussed above to show us a surreal truth that fits.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button did so many things right. It is an intensely interesting film that makes one life a fantasy, but in the context of the reality we know to be true. It deals with life, death, loss, age, love, experience, difference, and sacrifice and tells a very intriguing story through the blending of all of these. However, it does not feel like a complete film. While it has so much that engages you in the story, my feelings weren’t invoked as they should have been. So much of the material itself is powerful, but the emotions are weak. Brad Pitt, David Fincher, and Eric Ross did very well in creating this film, but they are all partially at fault for not bringing the sensitivity of the story forth. We witness this man’s entire life that is full of such hardships, confusion, and overwhelming joy. We should be able to feel an extension of his feelings in us, but although I cared for all of the characters there was a barrier there. There are so many relatable themes in the film, even if the circumstances aren’t exactly the same, the audience can still relate to what is behind them. I was very interested and engaged in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, but the lack of emotional conviction and relation holds it back from being the great film that it had the potential to be.