Whatever Works (2009)

Are not the people in the provinces---not evil, just scared, as Evan Rachel Wood's character puts it---underemployed? True, it may be cheaper to sustain them where they are, feed them religion, football, and television---not ballet, theatre, and fine art---and hope that they serendipitously will produce an idea or an intellect that will benefit the civilized world. Yet, many in the provinces would be freer and happier (and would make others happier too) if they were initiated into civilization at an early age, instead of fighting for it or stumbling upon it. The initiation is not as improbable as it may appear. Individuals strive to have a passion, which they would not abandon for a good judgement, but would substitute for another passion, which can be designed to be a reasonable one.

In contrast to most of her publicity stills, in the movie, Evan Rachel Wood is pretty---the price she pays for appealing to an intelligent man, played by Larry David. The affliction vanishes when she settles with Henry Cavill's character, a man of her own generation. With the affliction, affection will vanish too. Hence Larry David's admonition that the film is not a feel-good one.

Larry David character's vision, even if true, is too grim to share with most others. He cannot help not sharing it, however, even if doing so is unprofitable. His intermittent suicide attempts are the only instances when he tries to be selective in choosing the audience for his existential insights. The suicide attempts also reveal his doubt in the accuracy of his vision, the burden of which is often unbearable. His latest attempt at a targeted insight, a jump out of a window, lands him a girlfriend.

In the movie, the characters who learn most are those who find themselves transplanted into an unfamiliar environment. Larry David's character is the one who learns least, perhaps, because he knows most, but also because he has spent his life witnessing others come to seek and often not find happiness where he is, instead of going elsewhere, where he could follow them and would be excused for taking along his idealistic dreams.