'The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby" is a sprawling, three-part love story opening on Valentine's Day that wraps itself around the senses like a thick curtain. Director Ned Benson is trying to do something radically different as he takes us through a single love story told from three different perspectives: hers ("Her"), his ("Him") and the combined "Them." That's a total of nearly five hours in the company of New York couple Eleanor (Jessica Chastain) and Conor (James McAvoy), who meet, fall in love and break up, but whose lives and fates remain inexorably intertwined.
At present only the first two installments, "Her" and "Him," are being released locally, but they're still an emotionally draining experience.
Once you get past the length and complexities, "Eleanor Rigby" is compelling and ambitious. Here, at last, is a monogamous (yes!) love story with sincerity and passion, commitment and endurance — all the things that were laughed out of the cinematic arena sometime in the late 1990s by haughty cynicism and epicurean wit.