Radioactive

 1/4

Starring: Rosamund Pike, Sam Reilly, Aneurin Barnard, Simon Russell Beale

Rated PG-13 for Thematic Elements, Disturbing Images, Brief Nudity and a Scene of Sensuality

"Radioactive" is an embarrassment.  I regret having seen it.  It is an insult to Marie and Pierre Curie because it has no respect for them as people or their contributions to the world of science.  What should be a fascinating look at a scientific field they pioneered is instead a hack job by a lousy screenwriter and an incompetent director.

I don't know if I've ever seen a biopic that is this incoherent and chaotic.  I can't even begin to tell you what it's about because I'm not sure the movie does either.  Ostensibly it's about Marie Curie (Pike), her husband Pierre (Reilly) and their discovery of radiation.  But this compelling material is largely jettisoned in favor of bad melodrama and an array of half-baked ideas.  Most of what happens is not explained or happens so suddenly that it left me reeling.  Which I guess is the same thing.

The problem with "Radioactive" is easy to identify.  Director Marjane Satrapi doesn't know her subjects.  She has no idea what she wants to say about the Curies, their work, or the impact they had on the world.  Instead, she throws everything she can think of at the screen in the hopes that something will work.  Almost nothing does, and the result is a very boring and very frustrating 100 minutes.

Props to cast members Rosamund Pike, Sam Reilly and Aneurin Barnard for their valiant fight to create compelling characters.  It's all for naught, but they could have easily walked through roles that are so obviously beneath them (yes, this movie is even worse than Rosamund Pike's outing as a Bond girl in "Die Another Day."  Much worse, in fact).  Pike plays Marie as someone who is extremely intelligent but socially awkward (a traditional nerd, in other words), but that gives way into a woman who is as stubborn as she is brilliant.  Given how badly Marie is written, it is a testament to Pike's talent that we see a consistent character.  Sam Reilly manages to be quite sympathetic as the love of Marie's life and the only one who truly understands her.  It's hard to imagine that this is the man who was so chilling in "Brighton Rock."  Unfortunately he's gone by the halfway mark (save for flashbacks and dream sequences).  His void is filled by Aneurin Barnard, who despite looking very similar to Reilly, is also sympathetic.  His storyline is abruptly cut off without any real closure.

Marjane Satrapi is known for one thing and one thing only: her hand drawn biography as a girl growing up before, during and after the Iranian Revolution.  I haven't seen the film version (which she co-directed), but I did read the comic.  Since then, she's gotten the filmmaking bug and turned to directing.  Whatever insight into human nature and storytelling she possessed while writing "Persepolis" is gone.  Her previous film, "The Voices," was a failed black comedy.  And as bad as it was, this is worse.

Satrapi's list of filmmaking sins reads like a list of no-nos for directing a film.  Other than the obvious ones, of course, like telling a coherent story and having strong characters.  There are ill-placed flashbacks, bizarre dream sequences, obnoxious visual tricks and so on.  This is an excessively gimmicky film.  Like, it's Oliver Stone level of gimmicky.  Subplots, such as the Curie's dabbles in spiritualism and the misogyny Marie faced, are raised and then dropped.  Why the French people suddenly turned on Marie and tried to run her out of the country is never convincingly explained.  Her attempts to show how their work affected the future are relegated to "Family Guy"-style cutaways, including one involving the bombing of Hiroshima that is truly distasteful.  She doesn't even explain what they did!  Come on!  The one scene that must be in a film like this is missing.  A brief monologue involving a grape does not cut it.

Once Anya Taylor-Joy shows up as Marie's adult daughter, the film takes off.  Satrapi narrows her focus and details Marie's reluctant efforts to help with the war effort.  It's still skin deep, but at least it's coherent.  Unfortunately, this stuff only compromises the last 15 minutes.  A segment where a dying Marie takes a tour of her life and accomplishments would have been genuinely moving had it been handled better.  And Satrapi at least acknowledges the price Marie and Pierre paid for their discoveries (neither one is ever in good health once they start working).

"Radioactive" has gotten mixed reviews since its release.  I watched it anyway because I was curious about the subject matter.  But my God, is this movie just awful.