HEMINGWAY’S GARDEN OF EDEN review by Alyn Darnay

Review by Alyn Darnay

Directed by:  John Irvin

Staring: Jack Huston (Boardwalk Empire), Mena Suvari (American Beauty), Caterina Murino (Casino Royale), Richard E. Grant (Gosford Park), Matthew Modine (Full Metal Jacket)

Nobel laureate Ernest Hemingway wrote the story that this movie is based upon early in his career, but it wasn’t published until 1986, twenty years after his death. The speculation is that the manuscript was cut to pieces by the editors, I presume, to try to save what they thought was not his best work, however, we’ll never know because we’ll never see the original. Perhaps it would have been best to just let it fade into one of those “missing author manuscript” mysteries that abound from time to time, because this is surely not Hemingway’s better work.

Again, I presume, that it is loosely based on his early life and the lives of his somewhat on again off again friend F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda. Most surely the main female in this script represents Zelda’s madness and control over her husband and his writing.

It’s a story of “The Lost Generation”, set in the Jazz Age shortly after WWI. It relates the tale of a young ex-pat American writer, David Bourne (JACK HUSTON), who falls instantly in love with a rich but restless beauty, Catherine (MENA SUVARI). He immediately marries her and they take an extended honeymoon to the Cote d’Azur in a spiffy blue Bugatti she buys for him. Moving from small towns to big cities in search of some vague state of enjoyment, they eventually wind up in an isolated oceanfront Hotel for the summer, which is opened just for them alone. David tries to write, Catherine constantly tries to find ways to distract him from it, mostly erotic ways. Her games climax when she brings home a sultry Italian heiress, Marita (CATERINA MURINO). The rest of the story revolves around David’s struggle to write about an African childhood adventure he had with his big-game hunter father (MATTHEW MODINE) and his escalating use as a pawn between the two manipulative women.

“Garden of Eden’s” release was delayed two years, there’s a reason for it. It’s not a great film. Perhaps it would have been best to just let it fade into one of those “direct to video” films, because this is surely not director John Irvin’s better work. He had the actors to pull it off well, the casting is good, but the film itself is rather slow, meandering, and in the end, meaningless.

There are of course some very redeeming elements to the film, the authentic period feel of cinematography, locations, set design, and costuming are all superb. Jack Huston is an up and coming actor who is interesting to watch and totally believable in the role of David, as is Catherine Murino who provides some great moments as the darkly sexual woman standing between the young couple.

Unfortunately though, Matthew Modine, normally a good actor, is wasted in the contrived and poorly executed African segments and Mena Suvari just seems to be drowning in the thinly written part she’s trying valiantly to make come alive.

I tried to love this film because I love the elegance and romance of the period, but in the end I couldn’t. Ultimately, the film bored me. There was little or no chemistry between the two lead characters, perhaps the most important element of all, and their encounters added up to nothing more than foreplay, as a matter of fact the whole film added up to nothing more than foreplay.

Rating (2 ½ of  5)

Running Time: 111 min

Rated R for strong sexual content, nudity and some language.