Eat Pray Love

Eat Pray Love

3/5

Director: Ryan Murphy

Starring: Julia Roberts, Javier Bardem, James Franco

If you happen to have an ounce of cynicism in your body, avoid this like the plague. Because for the cynics amongst you, "Eat Pray Love" will no doubt be the most self-indulgent, self-satisfied and self-important film you will see all year. But for those who are truly romantics at heart, one woman's pretty looking journey across the colourful globe to find the meaning of life, searching for a true connection, physical, mental and spiritual, will be something to marvel at, admire and cherish. Is she brave for venturing out into the world, following her dreams? Or is she simply deluding herself and being selfish, materialistic and falling into excessive consumerism? Are the problems in her life really that big of a deal? The film's theme will no doubt split the audience and it's not something that appeals to a wide demographic.

Liz (Julia Roberts) is a middle-aged woman going through a divorce after disastrous years of trying to make her marriage work and is looking for some sort of consolation from a much younger man (James Franco). But the love affair is cooling off significantly, and she is once again left alone, bored and unenthusiastic about life. She needs a change of scenery, and being a travel writer, she decides to take an entire year out to do some effective soul-searching. Her first destination is Rome, where she is to do some eating. Then she plans to move on to India, a place suited for praying. Finally, she will end the year in Bali, Indonesia, where she may, just may, find the much-needed love in her life. 

It is hard to make a film out of a book that relies heavily on internal monologue. "Eat Pray Love" is based on an enormously popular bestseller written by Elizabeth Gilbert whose autobiography was an instant hit for the readers. She was looking for balance and the meaning of true happiness, and before we are able to see Julia Roberts going on the rather expensive looking trip (which Gilbert's publisher paid for in advance, a bit of detail the film decides to ignore completely for some reason), the film needs to establish that Liz is going through hell and is leading a miserable existence. This is where the casting of Roberts really pays off. Roberts, being the international superstar that she is, does not disappoint in her "solo comeback" (this is the first time she has had to carry a film by herself in nearly 7 years), with her subtle glances of sadness and vulnerability setting an effective tone at the beginning of the film. She is essentially depressed and needs something different in her life. She has spent years worrying about her future, and now she needs to have fun.

And it's a timeout that anyone would die for. In Rome she decides to stop worrying about gaining weight. She's in Italy, there are sumptuous dishes of pizza and pasta and she is not about to let a few pounds from enjoying the endless amount of fantastic food that is on offer. She does need to buy a few more pairs of jeans that fit the grown waist but who cares when the food tastes that great? There's a particularly memorable scene where Roberts tucks into a rather simple looking Spaghetti Pomodoro, which in fact, turns out to be amazing. Accompanied by "Der Hölle Rache," the famous Queen of the Night aria from Mozart's "The Magic Flute," the scene will make your tummy growl as Roberts slowly but surely finds a brief moment of true happiness with that plate of Spaghetti. 

Then she's off to India, where she stays in a Hindu temple, finding peace, praying, trying to connect with God. But being a Western woman, it's not easy to sit still, pause, and meditate for hours and hours. There are flies to distract her and she has too much going on inside her head which doesn't help since the whole point of meditation is to clear your head of any unnecessary, complex thoughts. Time literally seems to stop and each minute feels like an hour for our heroine. But like most events in this film, as enough time goes by, she gets immensely good, almost too good, at everything. Sure she does have some help. She meets a friendly man from Texas, Richard (Richard Jenkins), who helps her get rid of the burdens that are pressing down hard on her shoulders. Jenkins provides the only stand-out supporting performance and in one intimate scene that is handled perfectly by the often underrated and underused actor, his monologue will surely tug at the heartstrings. The friendship between the two is often humourous as well as deeply moving, and a lot of credit should go to Jenkins.

Good-looking men surround Gilbert during her travels, most noticeably in Bali. She almost hooks up with a man who must be at least ten years younger than the middle-aged divorcee, but the one that threatens to steal her heart is the conveniently divorced Felipe (Javier Bardem), whose business apparently lets him be wherever he wants to be (his words). So the audience is confused when he also goes on to say that his business is in Bali, so he cannot leave when Gilbert eventually plans to. Other than that slight hiccup, Felipe seems to be the perfect man for her. He's loving, caring, a great kisser...basically he's got the full package. Gilbert took this trip to be away from complications, to liberate herself, but it appears she needs a man after all to keep her happy. She visits Ketut, a medicine man whom she visited before and his words of wisdom supposedly give her Balance. She finds security and stability at long last.

Despite the excessive use of voiceovers, the film fails to show any depth relating to this woman's year-long journey. It has a lengthy running time, but spends very little bit of it trying to explain to us just how some of the events occur. The disjointed feel is partly the editor's fault, but also the careless script should also share the blame. So she's praying in India. What about? She connects with God on some level. How? She finds Balance in Bali. Again, how? By doing some charity work and raising money for a pharmacist who cannot afford to buy her own place? The soul-searching; did she succeed in the end? Was Felipe it? The whole point of the trip? The message is never clear, and the film tends to forget a lot about the previous places Gilbert had been to. When she's in India, she forgets all about Rome, when she's in Bali, India is history. The calm, soothing voice of Julia Roberts tries to explain everything. And there are some philosophical elements that try to give clever answers to the many questions that have been opened in the beginning. Because director Ryan Murphy is so focused on showing solely the beautiful, breathtaking aspect of her adventure, all that "Eat Pray Love" boils down to is nothing but a shallow and sweeping drama with a fantastic leading actress but not much else.