“You wanna get dinner?” asks George.
“I don’t get it,” answers Christine, her face blank with confusion.
This is the tragedy of someone who can’t quite comprehend. Even something as simple as being asked out on a date stymies Christine, whose brain isn’t clicking in the same way most people’s do.
“Christine” is a glimpse into the life of Christine Chubbuck, a bright, attractive TV reporter in Sarasota. The movie doesn’t mention her status as a terrible footnote to journalism history until it reaches its end, so if you are a stickler for spoilers, you can skip the next bit.
Chubbuck committed suicide by gunshot while seated at the anchor desk of WXLT-TV, on July 15, 1974, live on the air. By coincidence, “Christine” is one of two current films on this subject, the other being the even-smaller-indie “Kate Plays Christine.”
In tracing the weeks prior to Chubbuck’s death, “Christine” touches on a few different subjects: the slide of TV news into “If it bleeds, it leads” policy; the dismissive treatment of women in journalism; and the generally kooky mode of a 1970s scene rife with pop psychology. Everybody wants to get in on the smiley-face “I’m OK—You’re OK” attitude. Everybody except Christine.
The movie mentions these things, but thankfully it never tries to hang Chubbuck’s suicide on any of them. Screenwriter Craig Shilowich and director Antonio Campos suggest Christine’s problems were deeper than that.
This is captured with real authority by Rebecca Hall, who plays Christine and is the best reason for seeing the movie. The tall, mournful-looking actress never strays beyond Christine’s narrow emotional scope.
Hall’s vocal delivery lacks inflection, as though Christine is unable to hear herself speak — or can’t detect the absence of tone. If you’ve seen Hall in “The Town” or “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” you know she has a very expressive range, so this deadness of tone is impressive.
Christine lives with her mother (J. Smith-Cameron, from “Margaret”), a good-time gal who worries that Christine is going into a down-spiraling phase she’s had before. Mom is enjoying the new freedoms of the era, but Christine is a 29-year-old virgin.
The man who asks her out is the station anchorman (Michael C. Hall), but their evening turns into an odd encounter. Christine’s sexist boss is nicely turned by Tracy Letts, and her only real friend at work is sympathetically played by Maria Dizzia.
There’s a built-in limit on how much we can know about Christine Chubbuck, and that limits the movie, too. But it’s a serious portrait, and it contains a lead performance that conveys real insight about the pain of not being in step with the rest of the world.
“Christine” (3 stars)
A serious portrait of Christine Chubbuck, a Florida TV reporter who committed suicide while on the air in 1974. There’s a limit to how much we can understand about the subject, but Rebecca Hall’s lead performance is an authoritative portrayal of someone who lacks the usual emotional range.
Rating: R, for language, violence
Showing: Sundance Cinemas
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