If you thought Birdman was dark, Barry Levinson’s The Humbling goes to an even darker place. The film, starring Al Pacino, has one thing in common with Alejandro G. Inarritu’s vastly superior Oscar-winning film, but that’s about it.
Pacino stars as the ageing actor Simon Axler, who takes a fall on stage. He struggles defining the line between reality and fantasy, and even finds it difficult to remember his lines. So, he goes to rehab after being in the hospital. Then, he takes a long sabbatical from the stage, living in isolation in a ritzy Connecticut home he’s never “moved in” to, even though he’s owned it for 14 years.
Suddenly, Pegeen Stapleford (Greta Gerwig) crashes his isolation. She’s the daughter of one of his actor friends and they haven’t seen each other since she was a child. Even though Pegeen is a lesbian, she decides to have a relationship with Simon. There is a huge age gap, but they don’t seem to mind.
The Humbling is based on a novel by Philip Roth, but the book isn’t one of his best. While it is clear why Pacino connected with this material, it feels more like an old man’s sexual fantasies than a true exploration of an ageing actor’s psyche. Indeed, the film reaches desperately to be smarter than it is.
Pacino is at his best when he’s just being Pacino and not being pushed to be more by Levinson. There’s a great scene where Pacino is just sitting in a circle, explaining how he feels that all his talent has escaped him. It’s filmed in one long take and it’s just Pacino sitting there. The scene is the most beautiful thing in the movie, but it rarely reaches that level again.
Levinson and writers Buck Henry and Michael Zebede also struggle putting together a strong structure for the film. At first, it looks like the movie will be told through a conversation between Pacino and his doctor (Dylan Baker), but that structure begins to fall apart halfway through. A consistent device to tell this story would have helped significantly.
The film also shows that Greta Gerwig isn’t so great outside of comedies. She has some difficulty getting to Pacino’s level at the film’s most dramatic points. But when there’s comedy, she’s back to the loveable star of Greenberg and Frances Ha. It’s nice to see her try new things, but she’s not at her best here.
The Humbling comes out on Blu-ray from Millenium Entertainment on March 3. The only bonus material is a disappointing 4-minute behind-the-scenes that features much-too-short interviews with Pacino, Gerwig and Levinson.
Just by watching The Humbling, you can tell that Pacino desperately wants to make a big comeback. He wants to get a late-career Oscar nomination like Robert De Niro. But he’s just got to pick better material to do it. Please take another swing Al. We’re rooting for you.
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