I have never seen The Squid and the Whale, but I THOUGHT that I did because I confused it with Igby Goes Down for no reason. Apparently I remember nothing about Igby Goes Down, which should not be held against the movie, but the quirks of my brain. Once I figured out the mix up, I decided to rectify the situation immediately since The Squid and the Whale keeps coming up whenever I mention Mistress America. I’m doing my homework!
Wow, The Squid and the Whale is so different from the spirit of Mistress America, but not in a bad way. The Squid and the Whale is a painful snapshot into a Brooklyn academic family at their lowest point. If The Squid and the Whale just consisted of the opening scenes, you would still know everything that you need to know about the family, which consists of a mother, a father and two sons who have chosen sides before there is even an announcement that the couple is separating.
The father is needlessly competitive, consuming, a bully and narcissistic. He is proud of his opinions, which may be right, but not as incisive when he turns his critical eye to himself in quiet moments. His accomplishments are theoretical, his failure is cruelly apparent and his inability to think of others is his critical weakness. The mother is not overtly competitive yet winning in the literature world, probably humors more bad behavior than she should until it is unavoidable and privately rebels, predominantly sexually and intellectually, to indicate her displeasure and distance herself from his narcissistic efforts to evoke emulation. She is so busy struggling to develop her own identity, which is flourishing, that even though she is aware of her sons’ struggles, she does the minimal to encourage that development.
Their sons adopt the behaviors of their chosen parent and admire their chosen parent’s latest object of affection, but the older son, who is more psychologically self-destructive and cruel to others, is forced to distinguish himself from his father and see that he has no identity. The younger son is equally self-destructive in physically more dangerous ways, but is aware of his identity crisis, is stronger than his mother and older brother by overtly challenging his father’s attempts at creating a replica and is aided by the fact that his chosen parent, his mother, discourages him from demonizing his father and emulating her. Cat and human DCF needs to be called STAT. Neither parent considers what is best for their children, but treats them like marital property though the mother recognizes her flaws when confronted.
The Squid and the Whale is autobiographical, well written and trenchantly truthful. Noah Baumbach is the older son, and he pulls no punches with himself, which makes The Squid and the Whale a masterpiece in filmmaking. There are no tidy resolutions, and though the end has epiphanies, and every moment is incisive, The Squid and the Whale does not guarantee that awareness will equal positive personal development just a gradual change in personal dynamics. The Squid and the Whale is not fun to watch, but it feels necessary and urgent so people can confront their own negative behaviors.