Starring: Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Sam Reid
Director: Susanne Bier
Synopsis:Â North Carolina mountains at the end of the 1920s – George and Serena Pemberton, love-struck newly-weds, begin to build a timber empire. Serena soon proves herself to be equal to any man: overseeing loggers, hunting rattle-snakes, even saving a man’s life in the wilderness. With power and influence now in their hands, the Pembertons refuse to let anyone stand in the way of their inflated love and ambitions. However, once Serena discovers George’s hidden past and faces an unchangeable fate of her own, the Pemberton’s passionate marriage begins to unravel leading toward a dramatic reckoning.
Review:
Reuniting Academy Award Winner Jennifer Lawrence and Academy Award Nominee Bradley Cooper on-screen, SERENA boasts an incredible supporting cast in Sam Reid, Rhys Ifans, Toby Jones and Sean Harris.
Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence always have a certain onscreen presence that seems to come at you as soon as they appear on the screen together and Serena doesn’t seem to have the same feel they had on Silver Linings Playbook.
It doesn’t take long before their characters meet and marry, around 14 minutes of screen time, then it’s away they go to start their life together.
Serena takes her husband’s side and becomes part of the business, not being just the trophy wife that George (Cooper) may have wanted, this doesn’t seem to go down well with a lot of the workforce that are used to taking orders from a man rather than a woman.
Serena is a woman that knows what she wants and certainly has her sights set on a certain path for her life with her new husband, with a hint of gloom in her life after the tragedy of losing her family as a child, it seems that George is the rock that she needs to be strong after her terrible start in life.
So the build up of the characters, their love and the power that Serena has on the business grows, with a fair few love-making scenes, including a rather sensuous scene in an old tin bathtub, there are several scenes like this that for some reason seem like they are used to try and hold the film together.
Everything moves at a steady pace with the rather nice soundtrack by Johan Soderqvist, with nice location shots, sadly scenes are spoilt by a very wobbly camera that looks like it has been put in the hands of a cameraman that me be very cold during filming.
Until Pemberton’s business partner (David Dencik) begins to come between George and Serena and the moment that George makes a decision that will change everything, add in the moment from George’s past that finds he has an illegitimate child which really throws logs on the fire (excuse the pun) to cause tension between George and Serena.
Serena is a rather depressing film, with death, a miscarriage, and Rhys Ifans getting his hand chopped off in a logging accident, certainly not the type of film you feel good after watching.
I may have had high hopes for the movie with its cast list including Toby Jones, Sean Harris and Rhys Ifans, but I found myself just wanting something that I just couldn’t put my finger on!
If you are a fan of Bradley Cooper then this is going to be another of his movies you will want to add to your collection.
Serena is released on DVD on the 23rd February.
Serena DVD Bonus Content
Susanne Bier and Christopher Kyle interview. Featurettes: Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper Collaboration. The Production Story: Going back to North Carolina in the 1920s. Susanne Bier’s Directing Style
If you would like to win a copy of Serena on DVD then check out our giveaway.
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
