The Pale Blue Eye, which takes its title from the short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe, is a murder mystery thriller directed by Scott Cooper. Based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Louis Bayard, the movie shows good promise but falls short due to its sluggish screenplay.
In the harsh New York winter of 1830, a retired veteran detective named Augustus Landor (Christian Bale) is summoned to the United States Military Academy to investigate the death of a young cadet named Leroy Fry. Landor learns from senior officials that Leroy Fry’s body was found hanging from a tree with his heart removed from his chest. As Landor starts questioning other young cadets who are hesitant to talk to him, he meets a peculiar cadet named Edgar Allen Poe (Henry Melling), a poet who seems intrigued by the case. Landor takes him under his wing, and together they set out to solve the mystery. Their investigation leads them to dark places and convinces them that the crimes are related to occult practices. Landor has his own painful past, including the death of his wife and the disappearance of his daughter Mathilde, the latter of which has a significant impact on the case at the end.
The movie gets off to a gripping start when Landor starts his investigation and gathers some clues. There is a scene in which Poe, like a curious toddler, is trying to examine a piece of torn paper found in Fry’s hand after he died, while Landor simply observes him, impressed by his passion and enthusiasm. That scene alone is sufficient to highlight a good rapport between them. After discovering from his friend Pepe (Robert Duvall) that extracting hearts out of dead bodies is related to black magic, Landor instructs Poe to find out if anyone at the academy is involved in sorcery. Poe snoops around the academy, which is when he gets involved with the Marquis family, which consists of Dr. Daniel Marquis (Toby Jones), the academy doctor, his son Artemus (Harry Lawtey), a young cadet at the academy, and his daughter Lea (Lucy Boynton), a pianist whom Poe starts liking. He takes Lea out for a walk in a cemetery, and that scene is crosscut with Landor trying to figure out what’s written in Leroy Fry’s encrypted diary, given to him by Leroy’s mother. The crosscutting makes us assume there’s a connection between the two scenes, but it is a clever red herring meant to keep you guessing.
Unfortunately, the screenplay runs out of steam as the movie progresses. The makers make the mistake of providing clues that turn out to be rather obvious. As a result, in one specific scene, viewers are easily able to figure out the suspense of who is removing hearts from dead victims, and that suspense is stretched out for another 10 minutes, at which point the movie loses its momentum. The movie’s final twist, on which Cooper heavily relies, yields mixed results. I admired the intention and reasoning behind it, but the coincidental nature of it was off-putting. Also, some actors, like Charlotte Gainsbourg and Gillian Anderson, were totally wasted in the movie. Charlotte Gainsbourg’s character had at least one piece of exposition, while Gillian’s character had nothing to contribute.
The cinematography by Masanobu Takayanagi and the central performances by Christian Bale and Henry Melling elevate the movie. Takayanagi, who shot Cooper’s previous movies like Out of Furnace and Hostiles, both starring Bale, uses the 1800s New York winter setting and the white-blue-black color palette to create an atmospheric and spooky world that perfectly fits the movie’s tone. Christian Bale gives a decent performance as a detective with a tragic past. His performance, particularly in the first act, struck me as overly nonchalant, as if he were disinterested, but after seeing the entire film, I realized it was by design. His pairing works nicely with Henry Melling, who, as Edgar Allen Poe, steals the show with his energetic and sensitive performance. His acting chops are on full display, particularly in a scene where he sits next to Lea while she plays the piano. After she finishes, the camera closes in on his eyes, and with full conviction, he looks at her and says, “I think I am ready to do anything for you.” It is a beautiful moment.
The Pale Blue Eye is now available on Netflix.
The Pale Blue Eye movie link: IMDB
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