The Changeling
The Changeling stars Angelina Jolie as a single mother who sees her son kidnapped. After the police reunite her with a boy who isn’t hers, they put her in an asylum to keep her from exposing their incompetence.
The Changeling
Directed by Clint Eastwood
(R)
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
**
A mother confronts the Los Angeles police after her child disappears.
The chances that you’ll enjoy a Clint Eastwood film are usually good, said Owen Gleiberman in Entertainment Weekly. You can rely on the “pleasure of his calm classicism: the deftly angled shots, the story that unfolds with well-carpentered precision.” This directorial style is “even more pronounced” in The Changeling—but this time it works against him. Based on a true story, the film stars Angelina Jolie as a single mother who, in 1928, sees her son kidnapped. When the L.A. police accidentally reunite her with a boy who isn’t hers, they put her in an asylum to keep her from exposing their incompetence. It’s a harrowing turn of events, which Eastwood opts to methodically recount, said A.O. Scott in The New York Times. He sticks so closely to the facts, however, that he winds up creating a “distended, awkward narrative whose strongest themes are lost in the murky pomp of period detail.” Instead of exploring the story’s strangeness, The Changeling “lurches from one staid set piece” to the next. Through the entire film, we’re kept at a “stately remove” from the characters, said Dana Stevens in Slate.com. Jolie gives a rich, selfless performance, but the film’s flat delivery doesn’t invite us to share in her “disorientation, rage, and grief.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
'Make legal immigration a more plausible option'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
LA-to-Las Vegas high-speed rail line breaks ground
Speed Read The railway will be ready as soon as 2028
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Israel's military intelligence chief resigns
Speed Read Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva is the first leader to quit for failing to prevent the Hamas attack in October
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published