Eden

Every once in a while a new Irish movie arrives that appears a breath of fresh air. Sadly, the movie Eden is not one of these. It's a television film that somehow gets a theatrical screening but should not have. Why? Because it's suited to the small screen only. The story is about a married pair living in a drab midlands town. They have dull friends, visit the pub, exchange nods and winks with the locals, go to late-night parties, fix the electricity, go to slimming clubs, and fall out. If there ever was a reason to stay living in Dublin then this movie is it. Even moreso than Alarm this movie would put any sane person off moving down the country. For some reason the weather is really nice - don't know why as it hasn't stopped raining here in years. Anyway, back to the serious storyline. Wait, there is no serious story. They're married to each other for ten years and they've had enough. The wife you see is a bit of a big mouth and loves telling her 'friends' about her marriage. 'What happened? You were so good together' asks one female friend with her arms folded. Yep, Bergman's reputation is safe, this is no Scenes from a marriage. In fact, it's not much at all unless you consider carefully composed camera angles and character colour-coded scenes as interesting filmmaking. They visit a club and note that it's not as violent as it was in their day. I can see them now bashing each other as teenagers and now they are married. No wonder they've got problems. Oh yeah, that solitary tree in an empty field was used to much better effect in the famous German film Heimat.