It has long been debated whether people operate from their own free will or that every moment in their lives is predetermined by some greater force. Most of us prefer to think that we control our own destinies. In the back of our heads, and especially pertaining to romance, however, there's the fun notion that sometimes things are just "meant to be."
Thus, the inherent interest in "Déjà Vu," a romantic drama that plays off that latter notion. Unfortunately, the film uses a large and heavy mallet to get that point across and, not surprisingly, it flattens any sort of romantic fun the movie could -- and should -- have offered.
Instead, director Henry Jaglom ("Last Summer in the Hamptons"), working with his co-writer, leading lady, and spouse in real life, Victoria Foyt, has opted to make the film exceedingly chatty with each "specialized" character telling their necessary story, fable, or other narrative element that encourages or dissuades the main characters' behavior.
While that could have worked if handled more subtly, Jaglom and Foyt have made such moments so blatantly obvious and directly tied to the protagonists' story arc that a) it's insulting to the audience's intelligence and b) it's about as boring and trite as one could imagine. Existential discussions abound, but whereas such moments work in other films -- such as "The Big Chill" where those conversations naturally follow a thought invoking catalyst -- here they're convenient, forced, and so artificial that they nearly (but unfortunately don't) become surrealistically absurd.
The way in which this is so casually presented is what also derails the production. A film dealing with events that are out of our control needs that surrealistic touch -- be it eerie or magical -- but this film offers neither until the very end when it's too late. The same goes for the moments where the two destined loves keep bumping into each other. Instead of blind luck or fate bringing the two together, those scenes only feel like the result of several screenwriters' manipulative efforts to force the story along.
To make matters worse -- although it nearly, but certainly unintentionally creates its own surreal atmosphere -- the film's technical merits are awful. The sound and sound editing are handled terribly with it being quite obvious that exchanges of dialogue were recorded on different "takes" (ie. The background sounds change during a conversation when one or the other party speaks).
Like the choppy sound editing (where bits of dialogue are nearly chopped off), the visual editing (done by Jaglom) is surprisingly bad. Scenes, and cuts within scenes randomly occur (ruining the predetermined qualities) and Jaglom constantly zooms and pans the camera around without any apparent reason (other than the ability to do so). To exacerbate the problems, the "extras" in the outdoor scenes either stare at the camera as it passes them by (as we follow a character down the street), or noticeably step out of the way to avoid being run over. Not only does all of that distract the audience from the plot, but it also gives the film an extremely low budget look -- something akin to a first-year film school project.
Hampered by existential, "on the nose" dialogue, the performers don't fare much better. Had the film unfolded on a surrealistic playing field, the awful exchanges might have been easier to swallow. As presented, however, they come off even worse. Foyt ("Last Summer in the Hamptons") and Stephen Dillane ("Welcome To Sarajevo") try to do their best with what they've been given, but their moments together are flat and lacking in any sustained conflict to their pending relationship, as well as the "magic" needed to make the story work. Likewise, Vanessa Redgrave -- who's been so wonderful in the past and in the recent "Mrs. Dalloway -- seems more like a Grecian muse intended to impart essential information instead of a real life character.
While the plot tries to get clever at the end and wrap everything up in a "Twilight Zone" type fashion, by the time that twisting finale rolls around -- and we've been pummeled by the "mallet of obviousness" -- we don't really care anymore. While less (and we really mean less) discerning viewers may find the ending romantic, nearly everyone else will find it insultingly manipulative.
Without any sustained magic or obstacles in the way of the story's predetermined relationship, there's little here to root for and/or enjoy. Thus, we give "Déjà Vu" a 3 out of 10.
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