The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – DVD Review

By Jeff Swindoll May 8, 2009, 11:42 GMT

“I was born under unusual circumstances.” And so begins “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” adapted from the 1920s story by F. Scott Fitzgerald about a man who is born in his eighties and ages backwards: a man, like any of us, who is unable to stop time. We follow his story, set in New Orleans, from the end of World War I in 1918 into the 21st century, following ...more

Brad Pitt only wishes that he could age backwards since Hollywood doesn’t treat the elderly very well.  However, it’s digital trickery that turns him into a baby born old that gets younger as time goes along.  It’s a tale full of woe, but a great movie nonetheless.

In 2005, Daisy Fuller (Cate Blanchett) is on new deathbed in New Orleans as Hurricane Katrina is about to hit the city.  She has her daughter Caroline (Julia Ormond) with her, awaiting the end.  Daisy recalls that a blind clockmaker (Elias Koteas) was commissioned with designing a new clock for the train station.  When the clockmaker receives word that his son has been killed in World War I he feverishly works on getting the clock finished as a tribute to his son. 

When the clock is unveiled, he has designed it to run backwards in hopes of brining those boys back who have died in the war.  When done with this story Daisy has Caroline read to her from the diary of her friend Benjamin. 

The city of New Orleans is celebrating the end of the war in 1918 when a curious baby is born to Thomas Button (Jason Flemyng).  Unfortunately his wife dies in childbirth and the baby has the appearance of an elderly man.  This is too much for Button and he abandons the child on the steps of a nursing home.  The child is found by Queenie (Taraji P. Henson) and named Benjamin. 

Benjamin (Brad Pitt) begins life as an old man, but as time goes on he begins to age backwards.  One day Daisy (Elle Fanning) comes to visit her grandmother and since the two are the same age, though Benjamin doesn’t look it, they make a friendship.  As Benjamin begins to grow (backwards) he becomes restless and in 1930 takes up with the mad Captain Mike (Jared Harris), who commands the tugboat Chelsea. 

Mike teaches him about the finer things in life, like whoring and drinking.  Benjamin joins the tugboat crew and ends up on an extended voyage to Murmansk, Russia where he meets a British diplomat’s wife named Elizabeth Abbott (Tilda Swinton).

He’s promised to send postcards from his travels to Daisy and he informs her that he’s fallen in love with Elizabeth and this dashes Daisy’s hopes.  The good ship Chelsea is drawn into World War II, Daisy continues in her dance career, and Benjamin’s father lurks in the background as the story goes on.  Can Daisy eventually find happiness with Benjamin even as he continues to grow younger and she begins to age?  

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is based on the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald.  Fitzgerald’s story is more ironic, mannerly, and comic than the film, but still involves wars but the Civil War and Spanish-American War.  The project had floated around Hollywood and even been in the lap of Steven Spielberg at one point.

The problem always was one of the technology not being able to show the reverse aging Button correctly.  Luckily, technology finally caught up with the project and it finally went into production.  Brad Pitt was cast and through the wonders of technology was able to play the elder, middle-aged, and younger Button. 

The elder Button is a sight to behold with a made-up Pitt’s head stitched onto a different actor’s body.  The film does have an air of a reverse Forrest Gump about it, not surprising since script writer Eric Roth wrote it as well. 

However, where Forrest left one with some uplift, Button had a sense of melancholy and death about it.  We’re all destined to die, but we spend our time going through life trying not to think about that.  Director David Fincher went through the death of his father and that seemed to flavor his interpretation of the Button film. 

I couldn’t help but feel this melancholy as Daisy watches the man she loves become a baby again and die in her arms.  The thought of a dying baby was bad enough, but to realize that the child was cursed by fate to age backwards and that your love really didn’t have a chance.

The film is full of pathos and Pitt and Blanchett are well up to the task of putting that on the screen.  They’re joined by wonderful turns by Jared Harris (my favorite secondary character) as the philosophical, but mad, Captain, a solid turn by Henson as Queenie, and a moving bit by Flemyng as Benjamin’s absentee father. 

I found it a rather moving film and well deserving it’s nomination as best picture. It would be nominated for a further twelve more Academy Awards, but would just walk away with three (best art direction, best makeup, and best visual effects).  

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.40:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions.  Disc one contains a commentary by David Fincher with the lion’s share of extras being on disc two.

Disc two contains the 2 hour 55 minute “The Curious Birth of Benjamin Button” which details everything you’d want to know about the film (divided into segments called the first trimester, second trimester, third trimester, and birth). 

It’s a wonderful treat if you want to know the story behind how the film was made.  Next are two trailers, totaling 5 minutes, and four still galleries.  An excellent selection of features that are director approved and released under the “Criterion” label.  

I thought the Curious Case of Benjamin Button was an excellent film.  It does bring a tear to the eye and thoughts of death to the mind, not exactly the reactions I usually go to the cinema to ignite.  Excellently acted and give the Criterion treatment on DVD, it’s a must have.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is now available at Amazon. It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for a June 8th release. Visit the DVD database for more information.