What is normal? A social structure of behaviour, confined by rules in order to be accepted by society. Sounds boring, doesn’t it? It is. And this is what Craig Roberts showcases in his second directorial feature Eternal Beauty. No outburst comes from just one event. It comes from a series of events leading up to it — when they can’t take it anymore. For Jane (Sally Hawkins and Morfydd Clark), getting rejected at the altar is the final event that causes her to spiral into a chaotic, schizophrenic, depressive hole which becomes her life.
On her path towards recovery, Jane often surrounds herself with her family, led by her dominating mother Vivian (Penelope Wilton), and sisters Alice (Alice Lowe) and Nicola (Billie Piper). Being the middle child, Jane is always pulled into the drama caused by them, often leading to hilarious yet tragic conclusions. Roberts, while using a light humorous tone to tell the story, never drifts from the core about a struggling individual with mental illness, on her rocky road to recovery, trying to blend in with the people around her.
As the story moves forward, Robert takes us into Jane’s past, linking it to her present. Jane goes off her medication, resulting in her hearing voices coming out of the radio, tearing pieces of wallpaper, and screening imaginary phone calls from a beautiful sounding stranger. Jane meets Mike (David Thewlis), an old friend who blasts open the door of love which has been covered in dust for a long time. With Mike, Jane starts to feel more upbeat, more herself, as he resonates with what she feels every day. But soon it all comes crashing down, not only for Jane who endures another breakdown leading her back to the hospital, but for the audience, too, as it’s proven that Jane’s mental illness is not something that can be cured. Rather it is a daily battle that she has to fight and that is what makes Eternal Beauty different from the traditional saviour stories which we are told every now and then by the industry.
Robert’s commendable research on the subject manages to capture the darkness within Jane. He visits the deepest corners of her mind with acute sensitivity and traces the foundations back to her past, explaining her present situation. He also shows how mental illness not only takes its hold internally but also externally by showing how Jane’s physical appearance changed drastically from her younger self, who once participated in a beauty pageant. Visually, Eternal Beauty manages to captivate Jane’s changing moods through vibrant colors, cool aesthetics, and contrasting environments. The production design team seems inspired from the interiors presented in The Truman Show especially while designing Jane’s family house which is plain and boring. Whereas Jane, who is dealing with issues and has a personality of her own, has her apartment decorated more similarly to the french movie Amélie.
Jane doesn’t let her illness trap herself into negativity, rather she embraces it as she says to her sister, “People think that because of it, I must be lonely, but that’s not true. I’ve got people talking to me all day long, you know. Like, all day.” Sometimes she wants to be normal, but most of the time she just likes being powerful.
Eternal Beauty is led by Hawkins who delivers an astonishing performance, reminding us time and again why she is one of the greatest actors working today. She is supported by a brilliant cast with Lowe, Piper, Wilton, and especially Thewlis who brings in some much-needed relief in the story. Eternal Beauty at times feels like Charlie Kauffman’s work, blended with Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry, in terms of how it is presented and performed. It also makes Roberts’ voice much stronger as a writer and director. He not only presents a story about mental illness with inventiveness but also makes it empowering in spite of its sensitive structure.
