“SI’m just a little faster. » What viewer does not remain haunted by this cruelly ironic sentence, which alone summarizes the doomed fate of three characters Mystic River ? Released in 2003, on the 24the Clint Eastwood’s film is also the first film adaptation of novelist Dennis Lehane. And without a doubt, the best.
Jimmy Markum (Sean Penn), Dave Boyle (Tim Robbins) and Sean Devine (Kevin Bacon) grew up together on the streets of Boston. The friendship of these three childhood friends is turned upside down when Dave is kidnapped and sexually assaulted for four days before escaping.
25 years later, their journeys couldn’t be more different: Sean joins the police, Jimmy falls into delinquency, and Dave closes in on himself, unable to move on from his trauma. Their paths will cross again thanks to the murder of Katie, Jimmy’s daughter. Jimmy is drunk on revenge and Sean thinks he has found the culprit…Dave.
“I have always been fascinated by the theft of innocence”
Dennis Lehane’s book, inspired by a childhood incident (his mother scolded him for getting into a car with a man pretending to be a plainclothes police officer), was published in 2001. Reading the synopsis, on the last page of a newspaper, was enough for Clint Eastwood to get to the work, the potential of which he immediately felt: “The story is akin to an Americanized Greek or Shakespearean tragedy”, he explained to the BBC in 2003.
It’s hard not to understand what fascinated the director. Like many previous films (esp Cruel), Mystic River dealing with the consequences of violence, its impact on both the perpetrator and the victim. “I’ve always been fascinated by theft of innocence. It’s the most heinous of crimes, and certainly a capital crime if there ever was one. That’s what attracted me to this story: the fact that it reappears in adulthood, that the same themes repeat themselves over and over again. »
Written with screenwriter Brian Helgeland, with whom he collaborated blood claimin 2002, Mystic River produced in the purest Eastwood tradition: direct, concise, unadorned. He chose to film in Massachusetts, on the land where the book is set (“Mystic River” is a river located north of Boston). Much to Warner’s dismay, they wanted to shoot the film in Toronto for financial reasons. But we didn’t dictate the law to Clint Eastwood, who for the first time also handled the music of his films (he would try five times later).
“Everyone understands the process”
Sean Penn and Tim Robbins were Clint Eastwood’s first choices for the lead roles. The choice of Kevin Bacon was made when Michael Keaton was originally planned. A heated argument with the director, a month before the start of shooting, led to the actor’s departure. A week later, Kevin Bacon was selected.
“Kevin and I had talked about working together years ago, and so had Sean. I put together the best team I’ve ever seen, which really made my job easier,” explains the filmmaker. “For the role of Tim (Robbins), the choice of actor was unusual. We might have been tempted to entrust this role to a smaller man, with a more vulnerable appearance, but on the contrary, it worked very well, because he really immersed himself in this character,” he still salutes.
This trio of actors has another advantage: all of them have gone through the directing process. “Everyone understands the process. We hear about actors being late and other problems like that, but that never happens to an actor who has directed, because he understands all the problems a production faces. They know the language, so there is very little discussion. »
Filming “in 42 days? This will never happen”
As the novelist Dennis Lehane expressed in the Premiere, in 2022, the actress does not miss a beat, and is the perfect match: “Laura Linney! I didn’t understand what she saw in herself, but when I discovered the film, I knew. She has captured the “normality” of her face. She has a convincing beauty, something that gives confidence. Very suitable for Annabeth (Jimmy’s wife, Editor’s Note). Her final appearance is surprising, necessary. »
The novelist deserves a cameo at the end of the film. “It was a pleasure working with Clint,” he later admitted. “There were no delays. There was no hesitation. I remember talking to Sean Penn a month before shooting. He told me: ‘A movie like this, on the pitch, with this budget and these stars? In 42 days? That’s never going to happen. Never’. Clint turned around Mystic River in 39 days. Malpaso style (laughs). » Malpaso Productions is Clint Eastwood’s production company.
“The Man With No Name” also finds its companion from the trilogy in the film The Good, The Bad and The UglyEli Wallach, who plays grocer Mr. Loonie, in an uncredited cameo. “Thirty-seven years have passed since we last worked together, so there’s a long history between us. It was great to see him again, to see him there, on screen,” said Clint Eastwood.
Critical and public success
Everyone comes together for success. Revenues of 156 million dollars in the United States, 1.2 million in France, with a budget of thirty million: the film quietly covered its costs. Critics agree on that. At the Oscars, there was a double whammy: Sean Penn was named best actor, Tim Robbins best supporting actor. Very rare fact, only one film has ever made it before (Ben HurCharlton Heston and Hugh Griffith) and only one after (Dallas Buyers ClubMatthew McConaughey and Jared Leto).
Clint Eastwood’s latest film, Mystic River undoubtedly remains the broadest, most ambitious, delving deepest into the roots of evil. “The reality is that we were still 11-year-old kids locked up in the basement, imagining what our lives would be like if we escaped,” Sean explains helplessly.
To find
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Answer
The filmmaker finds there the quiet elegance of his great classic films, the twilight atmosphereCruela beauty that is both simple and tragic. The unfathomable complexity of creatures, characters bending under the weight of fate: all this further places Clint Eastwood at the pinnacle of classic American cinema.
Mystic River by Clint Eastwood (United States, 2003). 02:18 With Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden, Laura Linney, Eli Wallach. Broadcast on Sunday 23 November on Arte.
