• Pop Culture
    • Movies
    • Television
    • Comic Books
    • Video Games
    • Toys & Collectibles
  • Features
    • News
    • Reviews
    • Articles and Opinions
    • Interviews
    • Exclusives
    • Flickering Myth Films
    • FMTV
  • About
    • About Flickering Myth
    • Write for Flickering Myth
    • Advertise on Flickering Myth
  • Socials
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
    • Bluesky
    • Instagram
    • Flipboard
    • Linktree
    • X
  • Terms
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy

Flickering Myth

Geek Culture | Movies, TV, Comic Books & Video Games

  • News
  • Reviews
  • Articles & Opinions
  • Write for Us
  • The Baby in the Basket

Movie Review – Serena (2014)

October 26, 2014 by Gary Collinson

Serena, 2014.

Directed by Susanne Bier.
Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Rhys Ifans, Toby Jones, David Dencik, Ana Ularu and Sean Harris.

SYNOPSIS:

In Depression-era North Carolina, the future of George Pemberton’s timber empire becomes complicated when it is learned that his wife, Serena, cannot bear children.

There’s an old saying – “You can put lipstick on a pig but it’s still a pig” – and what we have in Serena is a pig in lipstick and a dress and high heels. It’s nothing more than a depression-set soap opera minus the camp appeal.

This is a film which loses its appeal in the first fifteen minutes, that vital window of opportunity where any half decent screenplay should have the audience in its grasp, and never regains its momentum rendering it pretty essentially DOA. Set in the Depression but looking like actors playing dress-up on location, Serena looks, sounds, and feels false and unauthentic from the start; at times the digital look is distracting, especially when the frame rate is slowed down, which takes us out of the reality, if indeed we were ever in it. Unless you’re Michael Mann, you don’t want your period piece looking like a modern film, especially if it’s an unintentional act. The same can be said for the dialogue which clearly wishes to be rooted in 30s and 40s melodrama but here it is fooling no one and never convinces as being authentic.

The film has no identity of its own as it tries in vain to be an ‘empowered woman’ drama whilst juggling plotlines about family, madness, murder, and financial worries, all of which never engage us for they are spread so thinly across the 110 minutes. The only positive can be said for the film looking like some 70’s revisionist piece with its deep blacks and natural use of lighting, reminiscent in some degree to Vilmos Zsigmond’s work in The Hired Hand or McCabe & Mrs Miller but comparisons to those films ends right there. Certainly the film looks good, in no small part to that beautiful cinematography which reminds us of far greater movies, and the locations outside Prague which stood in for Smokey Mountains (which, unless I did my research I would never have known the difference) but looks can only get you so far. Just ask the pig in lipstick.

Stars Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence do their best with flimsy characters but when it’s one step up from a soap opera, we mostly feel sorry for them for no one is truly invested in the film, most of all the audience. Serena is a mess of a film and if it were not for the two names on the poster this would be straight to VOD and forever ignored. Take my advice and keep it that way.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★

Rohan Morbey – follow me on Twitter

Filed Under: Uncategorized

About Gary Collinson

Gary Collinson is a film, TV and digital content producer and writer, who is the founder of the pop culture website Flickering Myth and producer of the gothic horror feature film 'The Baby in the Basket' and the upcoming suspense thriller 'Death Among the Pines'.

FMTV – Watch Our Latest Video Here

WATCH OUR MOVIE NOW FOR FREE ON PRIME VIDEO!

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:

Ranking The Police Academy Franchise From Worst to Best

10 Great Forgotten 90s Thrillers You Need To See

13 Underrated Horror Franchise Sequels That Deserve More Love

The Prisoner: The Classic British TV Series Revisited

The Most Disturbing Horror Movies of the 1980s

Whatever Happened to the Horror Icon?

The Most Overlooked Horror Movies of the 1990s

The 10 Best Villains in Sylvester Stallone Movies

Seven Famous Cursed Movie Productions

Johnnie To, Hong Kong Cinema’s Modern Master

Top Stories:

Great Tarantino-esque Movies You Need To See

8 Great Recent Films You Really Need To See

Marisa Abela joins Henry Cavill and Russell Crowe in Highlander remake

Can Edgar Wright conquer America with The Running Man?

6 Great Australian Crime Movies of the 1980s

7 Underrated World War II Romance Movies

Whatever Happened to the Horror Icon?

The Rise of Paul Thomas Anderson: A Living Legend

STREAM FREE ON PRIME VIDEO!

FEATURED POSTS:

Forgotten 90s Action Movies That Deserve a Second Chance

The 10 Best Villains in Arnold Schwarzenegger Movies

10 Great Cult 80s Movies You Need To See

The Villainy of Lex Luthor in James Gunn’s Superman

Our Partners

  • Pop Culture
    • Movies
    • Television
    • Comic Books
    • Video Games
    • Toys & Collectibles
  • Features
    • News
    • Reviews
    • Articles and Opinions
    • Interviews
    • Exclusives
    • Flickering Myth Films
    • FMTV
  • About
    • About Flickering Myth
    • Write for Flickering Myth
    • Advertise on Flickering Myth
  • Socials
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
    • Bluesky
    • Instagram
    • Flipboard
    • Linktree
    • X
  • Terms
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy

© Flickering Myth Limited. All rights reserved. The reproduction, modification, distribution, or republication of the content without permission is strictly prohibited. Movie titles, images, etc. are registered trademarks / copyright their respective rights holders. Read our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. If you can read this, you don't need glasses.


 

Flickering MythLogo Header Menu
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Articles & Opinions
  • Write for Us
  • The Baby in the Basket