'(500) Days of Summer': A Break-Up Masterpiece

by Brett Parker

It would appear seemingly difficult to pull off a very effective break-up film when you think about it. If you make one that vividly captures the seething pain and heartbreaking misery of such an experience, you risk making a film that is a relentless downer and unpleasant to watch. If you make one that tries to put a sunny and optimistic spin on things, you may skewer painfully honest details that are needed to keep things realistic. Very rarely has the cinema treated us to a view on the subject that can skillfully balance both of those ideals.

That’s why (500) Days of Summer is such a miracle; here is one of the most relatable and honest portraits of relationships ever put on film, and it’s a wildly inventive film-going experience as well. First time director Marc Webb announces his presence with a zestful and creative play on romantic comedy conventions all while conveying a exceedingly sympathetic view of contemporary dating. I’m not going to beat around the bush here; this film could very well overthrow both Casablanca and High Fidelity to become the best break-up movie ever made.

When we first meet Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), he is smashing dishes in his kitchen and wallowing in misery. As his little sister Rachel (Chloe Moretz) goes to comfort him, we learn that he has just gone through a difficult break-up with a woman he was hopelessly in love with. Desperate to figure out what went wrong, Rachel simply tells him to “start from the beginning.” Tom begins to flash back through the doomed romance and recalls the first time he encountered Summer (Zooey Dechanel), the gorgeous and enigmatic girlfriend who would eventually break his heart. Tom first met Summer when they worked together at a greeting card company. Summer is a true beauty who has great taste in all things and quirky insights that could interest any guy. After one conversation, Tom becomes instantly hooked. Tom is a huge believer in true love and he feels he has what it takes to win her romantic affections. That proves to be a very difficult feat to pull off, for Summer has skeptical and cynical views of love and wants to live her life in full independence. She’s attracted to Tom and enjoys his company, but she fails to feel as head-over-heels as Tom does about their arrangement.

The film randomly examines crucial days throughout this turbulent relationship in an out-of-order manner (the days are labeled by number and the film will randomly jump from, say, Day 72 to 300 and back to 8). We see Tom and Summer slowly go from friends with benefits to a somewhat actual couple. We see them dissolve from playful lovers into disillusioned realists. One moment they’re making love in the shower and in the next, they’re growing exhausted with each others quirks. Most painfully of all, we witness Tom transforming from a bright-eyed romantic into a broken and depressed cynic.

Very rarely in cinema will a film be an exact representation of passages in your own life, so it’s rather stunning to see (500) Days of Summer coming within an inch of my own personal experiences. This is a relationship film told from the male perspective and almost any guy watching the film will be very surprised to see how much this film gets right. There isn’t one situation or one piece of dialogue in this film that any healthy male hasn’t experienced in his actual love life. We’ve all been spellbound by a beauty such as Summer and just as frustratingly perplexed by their feminine complexities. We’ve all obsessed over the signs and body language women convey with great ambiguity while trying to figure out what labels best describe the relationship. And we’ve all had our hearts destroyed by a woman we cared deeply for, for reasons we’ll never fully understand.

Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel pull off a very peculiar acting feat together: they create characters that are wholly original and unmistakably theirs, yet they are so strongly sympathetic that they could fully represent any one of us and people we’ve dated in our own lives. Gordon-Levitt sidesteps making Tom pathetic and neurotic and simply presents him as a sincere guy trying his very best to figure out matters of the heart. A scene in which he highlights the absurdities of true love to a company board meeting is truly gut-wrenching. Dechanel is canny in the way she makes Summer both a lovely and frustrating woman. We can certainly see why Tom is obsessed with her; she’s truly beautiful and refreshingly offbeat. Yet we become perplexed by her once she grows cold and careless towards Tom’s feelings. This would seem jarring if it weren’t so painfully accurate of most unobtainable beauties. I’ve dated so many girls with Summer’s contradictive qualities that the performance grows rather haunting.

Marc Webb has spent his career thus far specializing in music videos (he showed delightful skill in the video for The All-American Rejects’ “Gives You Hell”) and has now declared himself a major new cinematic presence with a style that is both achingly realistic and creatively self-reflexive. Webb decorates the film with playful flourishes that highlights the emotional bases of the story. As Tom celebrates his first time sleeping with Summer, he is accompanied by a cheering crowd, a marching band, an animated bird, Harrison Ford’s approval, and Hall & Oates’ “You Make My Dreams.” There’s a funny sequence where Tom imagines himself in several art house classics, vicariously living out his anguish through art. In the film’s best scene, Tom attends a party thrown by Summer with high hopes to win her back after a break. Webb employs a split-screen technique to show simultaneously what Tom dreams will happen at the party versus what actually happens at the party. These are only a few of the many visual delights to behold throughout this heartfelt dazzler.

Put simply, (500) Days of Summer is the kind of film I’ve been yearning to see for most of my life. I went though my first romantic break-up when I was 16 and, like most heartbroken teenagers, I felt like my world was shaken-up. Seeking escape from the pain, I sought comfort in my all-time-favorite hobby: the movies. I thought it’d be wise to take in films that directly dealt with the subject of breaking-up yet I was disheartened to find that most of their endings were unrealistic. The films would usually start off with the male hero having his heartbroken by a beautiful woman and by film’s end, he would either get back with that very woman or find another one of equal beauty and greater kindness. Most men will agree that pulling off such a feat isn’t so easy in the real world. I wondered why there couldn’t be a break-up film where a guy loses a girl but then learns that there are more fulfilling things in life than just being in a romantic relationship. What if a guy were to take all that passionate energy and use it towards family, friends, personal success, or helping others? I would later discover that Casablanca and High Fidelity were the strongest representations of these peculiar ideals, but now (500) Days of Summer just might be the new heavyweight champion. To be a thoroughly realistic portrayal of dating that executes such strong optimism in the third act is some kind of wonderful. This film is an accumulation of everything I’ve ever wanted to see in a relationship movie.

Midway through the film, Tom and Summer take in a screening of The Graduate and have completely opposite reactions in their readings of the film. Tom sees it as a film with a happy message about love while Summer is overwhelmed by the underlying sadness hidden within the ending. I can see future generations of filmgoers getting worked up over (500) Days of Summer the way Tom and Summer observe The Graduate. This one’s the real deal and I truly believe it will stand the test of time to be seen as one of the most superior of romantic comedies. Don’t for one second think this is typical date movie territory. This is an emotional wallop that knows how to put a smile on your face and a lump in your throat at the same time.

To read my original article on the best Break-Up films ever made, check out http://thecinephilenewyork.blogspot.com/2008/06/top-5-break-up-films-of-all-time.html