Cake
Following a devastating accident that has left her in chronic physical pain, and indescribable emotional pain, Claire Bennett is now dependent on drugs and alcohol to numb the pain.
Cast/Characters
Jennifer Aniston plays Claire, in what is arguably the performance of her career. Strong Oscar talk was spoken about with this performance, and I can understand why.
Adriana Barraza plays her confidant Silvana, who has cared for her prior to her loss, and continues to support her following.
Felicity Huffman plays one of Claire’s support group leaders – who struggles to bond with Claire, due to Claire’s apathy towards others, especially after the ‘death ‘unaliving’ of one of the members, Nina.
Nina is played by Anna Kendrick, in ‘hallucination’ form. Sam Worthington plays her widower, Roy – who Claire strikes up a friendship with. This is one of the strongest roles I’ve seen him in, and it helped that he was able to use his native Australian accent.
William H Macy has a very brief scene as Leonard, the man who is seemingly responsible for the accident that left Claire in her state, and for killing her son.
Chris Messina plays Jason, her estranged husband.
Breakdown
Another somewhat difficult watch in terms of subject matter. Claire’s life and history is slowly revealed throughout the film.
When we meet her, she is shown to be a clear drug addict, but as the movie progresses, she is shown to be the polar opposite of the ‘traditional druggie’ usually portrayed. She has a nice home, and even a full time maid.
The eventual reveal that she was a high powered lawyer, severely injured in a car wreck that killed her son AND it was not her fault is not your traditional ‘how they got there story’.
Her backstory is intertwined with her ‘present’ story, her trying to get past her pain – both physical in way of therapy – where she fails to really try – much to the annoyance of her physical therapist (played by Mamie Gummer). She also struggles to deal with emotions within her pain management group led by Huffman’s Annette.
She also investigates the suicide of one of group members Nina – who left behind a husband and son. Claire’s friendship with husband Roy is written well enough. They don’t look for anything beyond conversations with each other.
We first see Claire with Casey – Nina’s son, prior to the revelation that she lost her own – and they way she converses with him is quite sweet (and lead me to this conclusion about her).
The story is really about Claire ‘letting go’ and moving on. Her relationships with those around her; Silvana, Annette, Roy and Jason – are all different for her -and her final moments in the film where she “sits up” in the car is a way of her moving forward. Prior to this, any time she is traveling she is lying back due to her immense pain.
In essence, her friendship with Roy is what saved her, when she needed saving. It was interesting to see two people who would have never met under normal circumstances, assist each other without even knowing it.
I felt there needed to be a little more finality in the way Claire let go of Nina. The final moments are on the train tracks, and this didn’t really conclude Claire’s hold on her obsession with her.
I found it frustrating the inclusion of Silvana’s family in one brief scene. Especially given the conversations that her friends have with her about her family later in the film. I was hoping for ‘more’. In saying this, Barraza (herself and Oscar nominee) is the MVP of the film. She is simply breathtaking in her role.
A nice score plays behind the film, by Christophe Beck.
Overall
Aniston gives a rare powerfully dramatic performance, and this is easily the best performance I have seen her in.
A touching story about loss, and moving on.
A little more attention to Silvana and how Claire let go of Nina, this could have been a 4.5/5. But a strong recommend, and a solid film.
4/5
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