Like the goldfinch, it feels shackled, weighed down by its two-and-a-half-hour runtime, non-stop anguish, and some very disturbing content. One of the real ironies of this film is that, like the chained bird in the picture, the story doesn’t fly. “Everything,” says Theo, “is before and after. Wrapped in newsprint, carefully hidden, the painting becomes part of Theo’s life. Known as The Goldfinch, it is a picture of a bird chained to a feeder, and it has a storied past of survival against all odds. After the bombing, Theo stole a painting. Then Theo’s father (Luke Wilson) shows up, and moves him to Las Vegas, where he winds up in a house in the remote suburbs, depopulated by foreclosures.īut Theo isn’t completely alone. Barbour (Nicole Kidman) shares Theo’s fascination with antiques. He finds some measure of happiness with the Barbours, especially because Mrs. Theo’s deadbeat dad is long gone, so he moves in with a friend’s family. Happiness is in short supply in The Goldfinch, which begins with heartbreaking loss.Theo and his mother are visiting a museum when a bomb explodes, killing her and leaving Theo alone. When I lost her, I lost sight of any landmark that could have led me someplace happier.” Speaking of his mother’s tragic death, Theo Decker (Ansel Elgort) says, “Everything would have turned out better if she had lived.
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