The Pale Blue Eye: Period Detective Yarn with Occult Overtones Brings Thrills and Chills
By Karen Gordon
Rating: B
Christian Bale leads a fantastic cast in The Pale Blue Eye, a twisty atmospheric detective yarn with supernatural overtones and, for those who enjoy such things, an actual historical touchstone.
It is 1830, and Bale is Augustus Landor, a widowed and retired New York City police detective with a reputation for solving tough murders. Landor — who seems to be carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders — is living in an isolated cabin not far from West Point Military Academy.
When the body of a young cadet is found hanging from a tree near the river, the school’s officials, Superintendent Thayer (Timothy Spall) and Captain Hitchcock (Simon McBurney) hire Landor, hoping he can solve the mystery of the death quickly and discreetly.
One of the West Pointers hovering around as Landor begins his investigation is an idiosyncratic, poetry-loving cadet named Edgar Allan Poe (Harry Melling). The garrulous Poe has an interest in the mystery of the murder, some canny observations about the culture and psychology of the students at West Point, and a quick and very open mind. Poe confesses that he gets insights from communication with his dead mother.
Read our interview with Christian Bale & Harry Melling
As sharp as he is, in the insular world of West Point, Landor needs an insider. He engages Poe’s help. As they review the evidence, there is a sense that the murders might have a connection to the occult.
Another character who is involved in the case is the local doctor and coroner, Dr. Marquis (Toby Jones) who, along with his wife Julia (Gillian Anderson) — an odd, off-centre society matron — has more than a passing interest in what is happening at West Point.
Their son Artemus (Harry Lawtey) is a cadet. They also have a daughter, a lovely young woman named Lea (Lucy Boynton) who suffers from fragile health, which has made her contemplate the concept of eternity and has also made her a bit of an outsider. Naturally, she and Poe are drawn to each other.
Of course, almost everyone has secrets in this little community, and as the investigation moves forward, behind the sometimes-formal social politeness, secrets are revealed as both Landor and Poe follow different lines of inquiry.
The Pale Blue Eye is adapted from the novel by Louis Bayard, and directed by Scott Cooper, who has made a slow, serious period piece with a melancholy overtone.
He has soaked it in period atmosphere, beautifully shot by Masanobu Takayanagi. That atmosphere is part of what keeps the movie’s mystery and tension. Much of the action happens in the winter. The daytime shots are suffused in a blue light. At night, dark rooms lit by candles underscore the era while adding both a sense of calm and claustrophobia. There’s also romance mixed into the tension.
It’s also based around a few interesting historical points. Edgar Allan Poe did indeed go to West Point, although he didn’t graduate. (It’s worth looking up how he spent his time there.) Poe is also credited as the originator of the detective novel, and of course, murder mysteries with supernatural happenings. So, placing the young Poe at West Point in a murder mystery are nice grace notes that add a little weight to the proceedings.
Melling — who got his start playing Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter movies — plays Poe with a mix of the Southern gentleman and an oddness that sometimes goes over the top. But he creates a young man with a piercing intellect, whose interest in the occult doesn’t diminish his ability to see the logical line through a somewhat murky case. He more than holds his own in a cast of heavy hitters.
Bale, meanwhile, is one of the finest actors working in movies. He allows his character to recede a bit as the film goes on, and as the more colourful younger character of Poe takes the emotive scenes. But still his wary and weary detective is the film’s quiet anchor.
The Pale Blue Eye. Written and directed by Scott Cooper. Starring Christian Bale, Harry Melling, Timothy Spall, Simon McBurney, Gillian Anderson, Lucy Boynton, and Toby Jones. Streaming on Netflix beginning January 6.