Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Cate Blanchett, Billy Crudup, Emma Nelson, Kristen Wiig, Patrick Sebes, Zoe Chao, David Paymer, Megan Mullally, Laurence Fishbourne, Steve Zahn, Patrick Jordan, Shaun Cameron Hall, Judy Greer, Maureen d’Armand, Johannes Haukur Johannesson, Kate Burton.

There are those who will stifle a person’s creativity to the point that when it has been beaten out of them, they then complain that the artist has given up on life, that they should just admit that they have no value and become a drone, an automaton, serving only the capitalist gain of supply and demand in the consumable.

Some will pour scorn on purpose, drip feeding poison into the ear till the respondent becomes deaf to praise and the voice of their own self-worth is diminished, reduced to wanting to please the attacker, they conform to the notion that society is built firmly on the production of the disposable; others will cause harm without meaning to, not understanding that the process of creation requires a balance of indulgence and the free flow of inspiration to conquer the void between bleakness and wealth of ideas.

Whatever field the creative genius takes, even if it is down the dark road of depression and melancholy, to scold and punish someone for chasing a different vision, is tantamount to abuse, the harm induced measures of those inflicting are then played out to the point where escape becomes the only viable option left, and one that is eagerly, sincerely, played out with terrific suburban culture vision in Richard Linklater’s Where’d You Go, Bernadette.

The world of the architect is perhaps one that might not inspire many to delve into the life beyond the landscape, but in Where’d You Go, Bernadette, and driven by a captivating Cate Blanchett as the titular character, the sense of guilt and pushing the hero onwards is palpable, it is heaving under the weight of societal expectation, and one in which the end completely justifies the means of delivery.

It is to the moments of humour, of the exasperation hiding in plain sight, that punctuates the tale, and without as such, could see the film become an American middle-class pastiche of the kitchen sink dramas so beloved of many a film and television production, but it is a humour derived out of the darkest parts of living with the grief forced upon Bernadette and her way of controlling her surroundings, that feed the narrative and the sense of urging the character to open up, to pick up a pencil and create once more.

With excellent support from the ever-reliable Billy Crudup as her husband Elgie, Emma Nelson as her longed-for daughter Bee, Kristen Wiig and Laurence Fishbourne, Where’d You Go, Bernadette is a reflection of the artistic suburban society which is often overlooked in favour of the pursuit of the almighty dollar and cent, the pound and pence; a film that rightly confirms that artistic freedom is far more a worthier cause than giving into the world of microscopic vanity and the pleasure of being a slave to the dull and uninspired.

Once again Richard Linklater puts his finger on a pulse that nobody knew had stopped beating and revives the genre with humility and insight.

Ian D. Hall