Little Screen :: The Ever After

February 26th 2015

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WELCOME TO LITTLE SCREEN…

Little Screen reviews a mixture of the under-recognised and the critically acclaimed coming out of independent, foreign & home grown Australian cinema– or in other words, films you would’ve loved to see if you’d only heard about them. Little Screen will also keep you up to date with upcoming film screenings, micro-cinema nights and film events. Written by UTS film student and overthinker, Ruby Castagnet. 

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The Ever After – directed by Mark Webber

There is never-ending hype around international cinema and celebrities, and the amount of cinema-goers supporting local films has significantly declined. More and more Australian films are turning to online distribution to cut back on costs and adapt to today’s virtual consuming society. Although a wise move, this also means that a discussion of these films is crucial to ensure that people are aware of what’s available online and to sustain a solid film community that does not disappear into the black holes of the World Wide Web.

And so I introduce The Ever After. The film was released worldwide on February 14 via its official website.

The Ever After is technically a mongrel production, being the product of American actor/director Mark Webber (The End of Love) and Australian actress Teresa Palmer (2:37, Wish You Were Here) who are a couple in real life AND play the couple in the film.

The film depicts a marriage that has flat-lined: a young couple once consumed by an intoxicating love are now on opposite sides of the world, with their young daughter floating in the middle. Webber plays Thomas, a fashion photographer struggling with desire and self control, while Palmer’s character, Eva, is an actress turned mum who is struggling with her new identity and a long term plight with mental illness. We loom in and out of the marriage’s various phases with jump cut editing and flashbacks: switching rapidly from violent indifference to sexual intimacy,  giving the whole film an untidily realistic atmosphere, you are left feeling awkward and convoluted.

There is no standard linear storyline. The Ever After has chosen to travel at a more digestive pace that can sometimes feel like it’s dragging, but this kind of works to emphasise the stagnant nature of the marriage, and how the characters are stuck, unable to progress. The film also takes glimpses into the dark side of the fashion industry, coping with mental illness and juggling professional life with family life. Palmer is a knockout actress in the film, handling the subject of mental illness with a realism that rattles you, while Webber is very convincing as a husband who’s selfish desires have made him grow distant.

The Ever After wasn’t a film that I adored, but it was the kind that stayed with me after its finish.

Its depiction of marriage as both beautiful and trialling, of love as untidy and paralysing and mental illness as deserting and relentless, possesses a perspective that is authentic, personal and honest.

The Ever After is available NOW to watch now from the official website for $10.00.

This fee not only allows you to watch the film, but to keep a personal copy forever. Zing!

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