Angelina Jolie Directs and Co-Stars Alongside Brad Pitt in Relationship Drama ‘By the Sea’

Brendan Reynolds

In her third turn behind the camera of a major motion picture, “By The Sea” director Angelina Jolie-Pitt, who also wrote and co-stars in the film with her husband Brad aims to deliver a moody exploration of long since exhausted marital bliss.

The seaside drama centers on spouses of 14 years Roland (Pitt), a struggling novelist, and Vanessa (Jolie-Pitt), a retired dancer, who have moved into a comfy suite at a swanky hotel overlooking the Mediterranean coast. Set in the mid 70s, the morose couple has settled into a sleepy French beach town while indefinitely rambling across the European countryside. Suffering from an extended stint of writer’s block likely due to his preference for daily pub dwelling over writing, Roland befriends and spends most of his waking hours with a local bar owner played by Niels Arestrup, while Vanessa feeds into her reclusive nature, spending most of her time in the hotel suite with an occasional spell out to the market or waterfront.

The couple’s indolent daily routines and rhythm begin to spark up when they encounter a young French couple taking their honeymoon at the same hotel. The happy newlyweds, performed by Melanie Laurent and Melvil Poupaud, inspire Roland and Vanessa to reflect on the more affectionate formative years of their marriage. The young lovers inspire Roland and Vanessa to regain interest in the more intimate aspects of their relationship, albeit inadvertently. Residing in an adjacent room, Roland and Vanessa discover a peephole to the newlyweds’ bedchamber and become obsessed with watching their physical acts of passion. The voyeuristic activity pulls the emotionally isolated couple somewhat closer together, while opening up a new line of marital communication and addressing some deep-rooted spiritual wounds.

“By The Sea” is Pitt and Jolie-Pitt’s first co-starring roles since 2005’s “Mr. & Ms. Smith,” wherein they also played a husband and wife duo. Attempting to steer the film away from a blatant exercise in vanity art, Jolie-Pitt wisely enlisted the deft European art-house style craftsmanship of cinematographer Christian Berger.

“By The Sea” washes into select theaters Nov. 13.