Movie: The Big Chill (Lawrence Kasdan, 1983)
Kevin Kline could have spent all his life getting praised for playing dignified, thoughtful types. Instead he became of the greatest farcical actors of modern times, earning an Oscar for playing a slapstick character. It's a mystery why he hasn't yet been cast by Wes Anderson or in one of the upcoming Knives Out films. The Big Chill is not a farce, but it is a film in which he has, by design, the least challenging and the most underwritten role. He is supposed to be the straight man among his friends who have all kinds of inner turmoil. He responds to this situation by even further downplaying the complexity of Harold, a character who is fully satisfied with his life and career and sees no need to spend any time thinking hard about what might happen, could have been, or should be. His total indifference to navel gazing, thoughtful discussions or painful reflections radiates from his face, often bordering on contempt. In many similar films this would be presented as a facade for typical suburban fears, anxieties and insecurities, the idea being that if you think too hard about your life it all comes crashing down. Not here. Kline doesn't suggest any subtext or deeper meaning behind Harold's casualness.
Harold and his friends should have many reasons for reflection. They've gathered together after a long time apart to mourn Alex, an old college friend who killed himself. They are Sam (Tom Berenger), an unfulfilled television star in Hollywood; Sarah (Glenn Close), Harold's wife, a caring matriarch who had once an affair with Alex; Michael (Jeff Goldblum), a womaniser using humor to mask his insecurities; Nick (William Hurt), a depressed impotent Vietnam veteran; Meg (Mary Kay Place) a single lawyer who feels her biological clock ticking; Karen (Jobeth Williams), an unhappy housewife who once had dreams of writing. Finally, there is Chloë (Meg Tilly) Alex' much younger girlfriend with an implied history of mental illness and an unhappy childhood. All these characters get some wonderfully observed moments, giving their actors time to shine. But none of those scenes are particularly surprising. These people don't get the opportunity to break out of the mold that Kasdan has created for them and do something that would be out of character. Still, it is worth noting that making Hollywood star Sam the most down to earth character is not a choice usually made in these kinds of reunion films. Also worth noting is that the chemistry between all the actors is great. They are very convincing as a group of friends who haven't seen each other in a long time and they all become quite sympathetic. William Hurt and Glenn Close excel playing characters in gravely concerned, deeply serious, and dour moods and, while having both of them in the same film can be a bit much, their expressions alone are enough to turn it from a comedy into a comedy-drama.
In the end, partly because everyone else is depicted a bit too stereotypically, Kline's Harold actually emerges as the most interesting person in the film, and certainly as the most honest one. He is neither a dimwit nor an asshole, but is often oblivious to his friends' worries and dismissive towards the two main questions the group has: why did Alex kill himself? And what happened to their youthful revolutionary ideals? He believes the first question can't ever be answered and is just a waste of time, while finding the second one annoyingly obvious: the answer to that is money and Harold doesn't know what more there is to discuss here. They were poor students, and now they are rich adults. What should happen? Both those positions are uncomfortable, but probably much closer to the truth than most theories floated by his friends. The film never directly supports or makes these same claims, but these ideas always kind of stay in the background, floating around as a possibility, while the group talks and talks, hoping to find the exact answer that will both be truthful to their current selves and bring back the good old times. Harold may not be searching for any of that, but no one else ends the film as a stockholding business owner engaging in free love.
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