I think the title Young Adam is a reference to the many legends that Adam, before partnering with Eve, had a previous wife named Lilith. Jewish legend sometimes identifies her with the Devil, and the origin of the wives of Cain and Seth was said to be in this supposed union with Lilith. The point as it affects the movie is that the entire action can be seen as a reflection or remembrance by a person who has since assumed an entire new life and role, who while resembling the character we watch in some ways, has left him behind. Note that the flashbacks in this film are completely unheralded; there are no cinematic devices to alert us to the fact that we are watching events that are past history. A voice-over narration was originally projected and partially recorded, but it was dropped from the final film. There can be no "director's cut" of this movie because what you see is the director's cut.
This film has the air of a film noir, and its essence is the moral consideration of the central character. A turning point is the drowning of the woman whose corpse is discovered at the beginning of the movie, played by Emily Mortimer. After several viewings, it has become clear to me that she grabs at his arm, trying to prevent him from leaving, and stumbles when he pulls his arm away sharply. He does not push her, nor even look at her, and it is clear from her actions that she has simply lost her footing. The most striking thing is that she then vanishes into the water almost without a sound. I am sure that filming the scene this way was a deliberate choice of the director. Her silence, the absence of screams, and the way she disappears before one even realizes what has happened, surrounds the event with mystery, and raises questions in the viewer's mind, questions that the film wants the viewer to ask. How far is he responsible for her death? Did he murder her or was it accidental? The ambiguity of the event is essential to what follows.
The decision to use the bargeman's wife and the world of her barge as a way of unfolding the history of the main character is interesting. It is an artifice that does not feel artificial. Tilda Swinton's sensitive performance allows us the possibility to feel compassion for this woman's condition and fate, without in any way softening the edges of her character. The film allows both comparisons and contrasts between her and the main character, both of whom rebel against their fates. Observe that the character and motives of the murdered girl and of the bargeman husband appear by comparison straightforward and uncomplicated. One could justly compare the naturalistic view of character in this film to the novels of Crane, Dreiser, Flaubert and Zola. The people are viewed with a kind of detachment rare in American films. The beauty of the countryside is effective as a setting for the rather stark and bitter dramas that these characters enact, and it dominates the opening movements of the tale. The slow pace of the film is also a naturalistic choice, conveying a sense of the monotony of these lives, and the meditative air is helped by the brooding score by David Byrne of Talking Heads fame.
It would be worth some study to see how the flashback scenes are timed in relation to the action in the "present" (as I said, the entire film could be seen as a flashback from some unknown future existence of the main character). The structure is complex without being a gimmick. At one point you see the barge going into a tunnel, and Ewan MacGregor is seen in silhouette, piloting the vessel from some point of view inside the tunnel. And in the flashback scene we are about to enter, the character is indeed entering a kind of dark tunnel. When we emerge from this tunnel at the end of the film we don't have every answer, but the irrevocable path this man has taken awakens a sense of wonder at his tragedy. Especially as the film draws to its end we are watching the steady unraveling of his character.
In a sense the anomie of working class life is the subject of this film. As in film noir detective films, the action seems to occur inside the central character's head. All the real events are of the mind and heart, and the art of the film is to suggest them entirely by means of exterior events. As one is led to the question of this man's guilt by watching him respond to the trial of another man, a gradual yet very effective suspense develops. A comparison to films like The Postman Always Rings Twice (remade by Visconti in Italy as Obsession) and This Sporting Life suggests itself. The sentencing of the innocent man, one more victim, provides the denouement, and one has the sense that sentence has been passed upon the protagonist as well. The ending, unfortunately just a little contrived and clichéd, is the weakest aspect of this very good film. I was particularly struck by the film's meditative character, which is very well sustained, by its overall unity, and by the acting performances.
This film has the air of a film noir, and its essence is the moral consideration of the central character. A turning point is the drowning of the woman whose corpse is discovered at the beginning of the movie, played by Emily Mortimer. After several viewings, it has become clear to me that she grabs at his arm, trying to prevent him from leaving, and stumbles when he pulls his arm away sharply. He does not push her, nor even look at her, and it is clear from her actions that she has simply lost her footing. The most striking thing is that she then vanishes into the water almost without a sound. I am sure that filming the scene this way was a deliberate choice of the director. Her silence, the absence of screams, and the way she disappears before one even realizes what has happened, surrounds the event with mystery, and raises questions in the viewer's mind, questions that the film wants the viewer to ask. How far is he responsible for her death? Did he murder her or was it accidental? The ambiguity of the event is essential to what follows.
The decision to use the bargeman's wife and the world of her barge as a way of unfolding the history of the main character is interesting. It is an artifice that does not feel artificial. Tilda Swinton's sensitive performance allows us the possibility to feel compassion for this woman's condition and fate, without in any way softening the edges of her character. The film allows both comparisons and contrasts between her and the main character, both of whom rebel against their fates. Observe that the character and motives of the murdered girl and of the bargeman husband appear by comparison straightforward and uncomplicated. One could justly compare the naturalistic view of character in this film to the novels of Crane, Dreiser, Flaubert and Zola. The people are viewed with a kind of detachment rare in American films. The beauty of the countryside is effective as a setting for the rather stark and bitter dramas that these characters enact, and it dominates the opening movements of the tale. The slow pace of the film is also a naturalistic choice, conveying a sense of the monotony of these lives, and the meditative air is helped by the brooding score by David Byrne of Talking Heads fame.
It would be worth some study to see how the flashback scenes are timed in relation to the action in the "present" (as I said, the entire film could be seen as a flashback from some unknown future existence of the main character). The structure is complex without being a gimmick. At one point you see the barge going into a tunnel, and Ewan MacGregor is seen in silhouette, piloting the vessel from some point of view inside the tunnel. And in the flashback scene we are about to enter, the character is indeed entering a kind of dark tunnel. When we emerge from this tunnel at the end of the film we don't have every answer, but the irrevocable path this man has taken awakens a sense of wonder at his tragedy. Especially as the film draws to its end we are watching the steady unraveling of his character.
In a sense the anomie of working class life is the subject of this film. As in film noir detective films, the action seems to occur inside the central character's head. All the real events are of the mind and heart, and the art of the film is to suggest them entirely by means of exterior events. As one is led to the question of this man's guilt by watching him respond to the trial of another man, a gradual yet very effective suspense develops. A comparison to films like The Postman Always Rings Twice (remade by Visconti in Italy as Obsession) and This Sporting Life suggests itself. The sentencing of the innocent man, one more victim, provides the denouement, and one has the sense that sentence has been passed upon the protagonist as well. The ending, unfortunately just a little contrived and clichéd, is the weakest aspect of this very good film. I was particularly struck by the film's meditative character, which is very well sustained, by its overall unity, and by the acting performances.