Review of The Squid and the Whale (2005) by Yuri B — 04 Feb 2016

This diligently expressive and jarringly earnest drama incites an impactful display of familial dynamics and divorce with a distinctively sharp and insightful focus on the adverse affects of perplexing interpersonal crises on each individual family member, especially where the children are concerned.The Squid and the Whale is laced with an emotionally intelligent and concise dialogue that delicately ascertains how a child's perception of their parents (Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney) in the face of discord is subject to many, sometimes psychologically damaging, alterations and modifications as the nature of their parent's respective humanity is gradually revealed to them.

Director Noah Baumbach exquisitely pinpoints how these unfortunate circumstances will jostle a child's psychological well-being and potentially expedite their maturation process when the child aims to reverse their role as a dependent and take on the role of an independent/parent when the parent neglects -- consciously or not -- their responsibilities as caregivers. Interestingly, Baumbach touches subtly on a ripening Madonna-whore complex reinforced in character Walt, a pompous teenage boy (portrayed by the fetching young talent, Jesse Eisenberg), who is desperate to gain his intellectual father's approval, holding him in such high regard he lives unashamedly in his shadow and ignores any of his blaring flaws. The Madonna-whore complex is demonstrated in the way Walt feels sexually entitled to a female peer whom he considers physically and intellectually inferior to him, yet he respectfully admires his father's attractive and intellectual protégé, Lily (Anna Paquin), who takes up residence in his father's home and is one of his students. All the while, Walt finds it difficult to have any sympathy or compassion for his mother, whom he blames exclusively for his parent's matrimonial dissolve and resents her emotional distance and simultaneously overprotective nature throughout his childhood. Walt's younger, preteen brother, Frank (a raw, yet tender Owen Kline), struggling with his own identity and budding sexuality, hopes to place some distance between himself and his father because, unlike his brother, he doesn't as easily relate to him because he isn't an intellectual. In fact, he is closer to his mother and feels very protective of her .

The Squid and the Whale is so refined it penetrates the soul.

[A-] -- 82%.