Having never read Elizabeth Gilbert's memoir, "Eat Pray Love," I came in with a clean slate, although I couldn't help looking forward to this adaptation with all the surrounding build-up. At the very least, this film should bear resemblance to Diane Lane's sunny journey in "Under the Tuscan Sun," or as pleasant and heartwarming as this year's travelogues, "Leap Year" and "Letters to Juliet."
World-travel, on its own, has always had an amazing appeal to me - learning about different routes of life, history, art, culture, architecture, people, food, and experiencing the kindness of strangers along the way. Born and raised in Indonesia, I was one of those kids who dreamed of traveling around the world and believed that there's something more out there for me.
While the story has all the ingredients of a best-seller book, the film is overwhelmingly underwhelming, not to mention running long past its time for this type of tale. Broken down into three segments (or four, if you count the prologue in New York) - Italy, India, Bali - it sweeps the details of Gilbert's (Julia Roberts) life events under the glossy cover.
Roberts (bless her heart), with her warmth and down-to-earth vibe, does the best she could and hopes that we would root for her. The backstory with the husband (Billy Crudup) doesn't depict the struggles and fights, those irreconcilable differences in a marriage that would lead to her exit. Instead, it's as if Gilbert wakes up one day, decides she's fallen out of love and is done for. I'd attribute it to Roberts that her desperate prayer, in which she asks for guidance from above to tell her what to do, to be believable. That's just about the only moment where I could feel her emptiness about her life.
Hopping into an affair right after with a young Broadway actor that looks like James Franco doesn't help with the image, however. Although one might argue that it is in her character; all her life she's always in one form of relationship or another. Similarly, this relationship isn't detailed here as well and Gilbert takes flight.
The film fails to mention that Gilbert has pitched the idea to trot around the globe to the publisher, and that she has received an advance to pay for the trip. It does beg the question whether she'd still go forward without. It makes the reality less 'authentic' than if she would go for broke and embark on the quest just because. A soul-searching journey, the longing to discover more about oneself and something greater, resonates well especially these days, where it's easy to become disillusioned.
Italy embodies the "eat" portion and a feast for foodies. Aside from the historic ruins and language, the parade of good food and fine wine showcases Italy as a culinary marvel. The hilarious hand-gestures and wee-hours of the morning of Thanksgiving dinner highlight this sojourn. It is true that there's a difference between pleasure and merely entertainment.
India, "pray," is the hard one. From the slum to the ashram, it's certainly a contrast to Italy. India is where the human connections seem most genuine. There's a moment in time where Gilbert connects with an Indian girl being thrown into an arranged marriage. There are meaningful walks and talks with Richard (Richard Jenkins), an American from Texas who shares about his painful past and relationship with his family.
And here Gilbert learns that just because she is at the center of a sacred place, it doesn't necessarily mean that she would feel more present. All the meditation and devotion won't do anything as long as she's in the pity-party mode, can't be still with herself and at peace with everything. Harmony and happiness are not to be pursued; they're already inside if only she could clear her mind and heart, trust and let things happen.
The beauty of Bali is shown through the rain-forests, terraced rice paddies and tropical flowers. Gilbert re-connects with Ketut Liyer, a Balinese palm-reader and healer who tells her in the beginning when she's there on assignment that she would return. She gets to know Wayan, a divorced woman with her little daughter, who grounds up traditional herbs to mend the wound on her leg after her bike was nearly run over by a jeep-driving Brazilian, Felipe (Javier Bardem), her soon-to-be export-importer lover and husband. What follows, donating a large sum of donation to Wayan so that she could buy a house, falling in love with Felipe and committing to the relationship, seem a little out of nowhere and rushed.
In the end, "Eat Pray Love" is passable but not palatable enough. When the transition process and interactions among the characters are not believable, it's hard to care. Instead of genuine emotional healing and spiritual awakening, Gilbert is simply swimming along from a river of events to another. "Eat Pray Love" is more of a romanticized travelogue, rather than a truly transformative one.
DVD: http://tinyurl.com/28mc3lm