Rabbit Hole (John Cameron Mitchell, 2010): USA

Reviewed by My Eklund. Viewed at Santa Barbara Film Festival 2011.

Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart play a couple whose four-year old son was killed in the Rabbit Hole. They have difficulty dealing with the grief and are venturing into different, unexpected and sometimes dangerous areas. This does not feel new. It’s a tragic story of couples whose child has been taken away from them and there are a plethora of films about this. But because of Nicole Kidman’s amazing performance, this film is one of a kind. The implicit point is that if you hold something close and it gets taken away and you know that you can’t have it back, you have to learn how to defeat the sorrow and try to see the good in people that are still holding on to you. Becca, played by Kidman, has a really hard time doing this. She can’t see any good in any person. Its like she’s trying to get rid off her son, by taking down his drawings, getting rid off their dog; she even wants to sell the house. Her husband is the opposite; he wants to remember his son by watching recordings of him. Becca is egoistic, she doesn’t show respect to others, but she is trying to be nice, but her lack of consideration for others shines through.

Rabbit Hole started as a play.  Nicole Kidman was one of the producers who worked for four years to get this movie produced. According to Roger Durling, the director of the Santa Barbara Film Festival, this is one of Nicole Kidman’s’ best performances to date. And yes indeed, I agree.

Becca is trying to get a grip of herself and her situation while she’s trying to find her son’s killer. Then she has the courage to approach him, instead of being angry with him, she is very gracious and understanding while he explains his sorrow and how it happened.

I highly appreciate the brilliant screenwriter David Lindsay-Abaire for putting together such a beautiful storyline and dialog. There is one scene where the couple are sitting in group therapy and one couple talks about how their child got taken away from them. The dialog ends with; “God wanted to take our angel.” Then Becca confronts her; “Why didn’t he make another angel. He’s God after all.” Then Becca and her husband leaves. This really shows Kidman’s characters persona in this film; her grief to others; that she can’t accept others thoughts and comfort, even if it is in God. No matter, if she believed in God before, she doesn’t believe in him now, because if God existed, he would never have taken away their child.

I’m not going to reveal the ending, other than that it is encouraging. Even though you don’t know what may happen, you somehow have to move on and accept and take care of the people that you have in your life. Again, this is an amazing performance by Nicole Kidman, and if you haven’t seen the film, I highly encourage you to do so.