I’m a year and a half late to this party but Paul Schrader’s film, First Reformed, is an astonishing work. It’s a terrifying vision of what can happen to us when we become overwhelmed by the negativity of the world. The film is sparse, somber, and chillingly effective. It’s the story of a small town preacher, dealing with his own issues, trying to help a couple expecting their first child. The man wants his wife to have an abortion because he is afraid to bring a child into the world. He’s an environmental activist who is bordering on becoming a terrorist. He’s seeking help but is unable to grapple with everything going on around him. He is lost. His wife is symbolic of purity of spirit. She is hope personified and only wants the man she fell in love with to come back to her. The wife is played perfectly by Amanda Seyfried. In retrospect, it is perfect casting. Her eyes are so expressive that we are pulled into her orbit, willing to help in any way we can.
The priest at the center of this film is barely holding on himself. He’s terminally ill and drinks his nights away while keeping a journal chronicling his struggles with his own faith and his own descent into depression. Ethan Hawke plays this priest and gives us a gift of a performance. He’s always been a phenomenal actor and this is his career best performance.
I’m not going to get into any more details of the plot because this film is one best discovered sight unseen. Allow it to envelop you in its embrace. Schrader has crafted something that is a high point of his own career — and that is saying a lot. Paul Schrader is an artist who has written four films for Martin Scorsese — he understands the balance of a film. The sound design is impeccable. We hear and feel every creak of the floorboards and we understand the age of this part of the country. His shot composition is that of a beautiful horror film. And one could make the argument that Schrader has indeed crafted a horror film. What’s more horrifying than losing one’s soul? Each shot unsettles and leaves us seeking the same comfort each of the characters are themselves seeking.
A unique aspect of Paul Schrader’s career is that he seemingly understands multiple generations. His films always feel timely. This is because Schrader loves to explore and experiment deep in the human psyche. I will go further and suggest that this film is borne of his own diary. I could suggest this of many of his films. His writing always feels urgent because he is always brutally honest. There is no fear in Schrader’s writing.
While watching this film, I took copious notes. The ideas and my thoughts and musings continued to pour out of me long after the film ended. I’ve wondered if the camera is representative of sanity. Is the camera God? Is it sitting in judgment of these characters? There’s a scene in the film which, the best way I can describe it, serves as a cosmic floating scene. Ethan Hawke floats into the cosmos and then through time. The scene goes cosmos, nature, man, destruction. Schrader isn’t mincing words here. First reformed would make for a great double billing with another film Schrader wrote, one of his Scorsese films, Taxi Driver. They explore similar themes albeit by taking different routes. I’ll leave you with this quote from the film: We know who speaks for big business but who speaks for God?
See you Wednesday and then Friday and then Monday, which is Honey Boy. Until then, love each other.
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