Another Earth Review

• 30th Nov 2011

Another Earth centres around the relationship between Rhonda (Brit Marling) and John Burroughs (William Mopother). They’re tied together by a terrible accident which has profound and lasting repercussions for them both. Rhonda tries to apologise to John, but finds she’s too afraid to reveal herself as the cause of his pain. Instead, she works for him as a cleaner, trying in her own small way to right her wrongs. It’s unclear even to herself who she’s doing this for and before long they fall into a disturbing love affair. In the background to this is the discovery of a planet that mirrors our own, dubbed Earth 2, which brings them together and inevitably drives them apart.

Another Earth is an extraordinary film about the guilt that Rhonda feels and her inability to escape it. She punishes herself by spurning her previously shining academic career and plunging herself into menial labour. With the naivety of youth, she forces herself to confront John, but is suddenly afraid of a reaction from a broken man. Perhaps she realises that an apology isn’t what he needs.

Brit Marling is superb as Rhonda, a young woman who doesn’t want to be pitied; she wants to be punished. Her performance is subtle and moving. The scene where she tells John the story of the Russian cosmonaut is enthralling and a pivotal moment of change in their relationship; that perhaps their coming together could be a good thing for John. The relationship that she has with herself is just as important as hers with John. Early in the film she is so vulnerable as a young person haunted by her mistake. She slowly believes she’s making things right, but is only happy when she’s made an extraordinary sacrifice.

William Mopother plays an ordinary man crippled by tragedy. He moves back into his world with the help of Rhonda, but the sorrow that he lives with is constantly on the surface. His recovery from his old life is quicker than Rhonda’s, as if he just needed a trigger to live his life. The scene where he asks Rhonda to stay with him is heartbreaking; we see how far he’s come and how close they could be to a normal life if they didn’t have this secret hanging between them.

The emergence of Earth 2, a planet that suddenly appears in the sky is tied in strongly to both characters. For Rhonda it brings hope that on another planet someone has been through the same experiences, made the same mistakes and shares her secrets. An aspiring astrophysicist, she looks to the sky with both a scientific and personal interest. Conversely John fears it; having become so introverted and wary of the world he occupies, it’s no wonder he fears another with its mirroring events.

The contact that’s made with Earth 2 and subsequent exploration are played sensitively and without a strong reliance on visual effects. It renders the story utterly believable and allows you to wonder, what if? But this film is not just for fans of science fiction, that is a sub-plot. It is an emotional drama about the devastating effects one mistake can make on many lives.

This is a truly remarkable, beautiful film. The sense of wonder that it creates through Rhonda is infectious. The soundtrack buoys the film and uses a lot of discordant themes to create tension and mirror the imbued unhappiness felt by the characters early on in the film. The cinematography through simple scenes of Rhonda walking through her town are very beautiful, highlighting the isolation of her loneliness; no one around her could possibly understand what she is going through.

Incredibly, this is Mike Cahill’s first feature length film and was co-written by its young star, Brit Marling. The script is strong and sparse, without slow moving exposition, and the acting is expressive enough to show what the characters are feeling. Cahill is a self-taught editor, which has undoubtedly left him with a film that’s absolutely true to his vision.

Cahill has created a soulful film that befits it subject matter. The ending of the film is so perfectly crafted and a real surprise. It leads you to think of all of the possibilities once the film has ended; sign of sure-fire success. An absolute must-see movie. You too will be left contemplating the lines of Dr Berendzen, renowned astrophysicist: ‘What else, what new, what now?’

Maliha Basak