CHRISTINE

US, 2016, 115 minutes, Colour.
Rebecca Hall, Michael C. Hall, Tracy Letts, Timothy Simmons, J Smith- Cameron, Maria Dizzia, John Cullum, Kim Shaw.
Directed by Antonio Campos.

Christine is Christine Chubbock, a television journalist in Sarasito, Florida, during the 1970s. For those who do not know what happened to her, it is best not to know before seeing the film to appreciate the shock ending. For those who do know what happened, the film is an exploration of an intense character. She is played with drive and conviction in all her complexities by British actress, Rebecca Hall.

The film opens with Christine seeming to be interviewing Richard Nixon. It is July 1974 and the president, after Watergate, is about to resign. But, Christine is only rehearsing, with ambitions to developing her programs, news items about people in the city, incorporated into the general programming of a very small local station.

We are taken into the television world of 1974 – rather basic it would seem in hindsight. The staff is small, equipment meagre, no teleprompter… Michael C. Hall is the anchorman, George, Maria Dizzia is the ever efficient and sympathetic production assistant, and there is a sports journalist, a weatherman, and an often-exasperated but dominating business manager, Michael (played by Tracy Letts, the Pulitzer prize-winning author of August, Osage County, and other plays and portraying the Dean in Indignation).

Christine is in every sequence and we come to realise just how driven she is, having experienced some kind of breakdown in Boston, returning to Sarosita with her mother, uncomfortable and clashing with her and having to apologise, earnest and eager about her small television pieces (and we see her interviewing a woman who grows strawberries, a man whose apartment was burnt because of his smoking in the house…). Michael is rather more keen on sensation on screen to draw in viewers.

There is a competitive crisis at the studio when the new owner from Baltimore comes down, planning to transfer some of the staff to bigger things in Baltimore. Christine is eager to go, manipulating situations, bursting in to make her case.

In her private life, she always says she is busy, but does accept the invitation to go to dinner with George, putting on a more glamorous dress, to her mother’s great delight, having the meal but then being taken by George to a self-help group, working on Transactional Analysis, some moments where the technique is one to one with the expert saying “Yes, but…” to Christine’s answer to every question. In some ways it is illuminating and contributes to the consequences when Christine finds that the owner is only vaguely aware of her and she is certainly not on the list to go to Baltimore.

The film peaks with her asking to be an anchor one night on the news and her decision to bring some sensationalism to the program, not what we might have been expecting.

The film helps us to realise that we might read a headline and it might sound sensational – but it is only a headline and there is a whole complex life story which needs to be appreciated behind the headline. This is the case with Christine.

1. The title, the focus? The key issue not revealed until the end? For audiences did know the outcome, for those who didn’t? The nature of the audience interest – factual, morbid? Life, death, empathy for personal complications?

2. The death of Christine as a headline – not giving sufficient attention to complexity?

3. Sarasota, Florida, the city, the TV studio and the rooms, editing, make up, conferences? The city, apartments, restaurants? The situations for Christine’s television stories? The musical school?

4. 1974, July-August? Nixon, Watergate, Woodward, the hearings, Nixon’s resignation?

5. Christine, the opening, interviewing Nixon? Introduction to Christine herself, the tone, her work on television, being in Sarasota, local programs, small-scale? The staff, the manager? The owner? News, sport, anchors, reporters? On-air? Production assistance?

6. Christine is a strong character, Rebecca Hall and her dominating the film? Age 29, single, work-oriented, isolated, virgin, her ambitions, mental condition? The background of her past and collapse? With her mother on holidays in the town? Moving to Boston, her work, her breakdown? Return, living with her mother, the bristling relationship?

7. The scenes with Mike, her antagonism, intruding into his office, imitating him, her requests to him, at meetings, the party at his home, his wife, the pressures, the clashes?

8. Jean is a friend, reduction assistant, work, confidant, the editing, the insertion of clips? Her reports, Mike and his dislike of them? Wanting more sensation?

9. George, anchor? Steve the weather? Friends, the antagonism between the two men? At meetings? Mike, business focus, exasperated? The sports journalist?

10. George and Christine, talking, the invitation to dinner, going out, dressing up, her mother’s response, happy? Out, the restaurant, talking? George taking her to the Transactional Analysis sessions, urging her to join in, the partner, the “yes, but…”, The revelations about herself? George the news about his transfer to Baltimore, her reaction?

11. Bob, the owner, visiting, discussions with Mike, impressions, his hopes? George and his success? Christine to wanting to go to Baltimore, to do better stories? Pretending that her car broke down, knocking on Bob store, that talk, his friendliness, hearing that the sports journalist was going with George to Baltimore? The effect on Christine?

12. Historians, the interviews, short pieces, the woman in the strawberries, the man setting fire to his house with the cigarettes…?

13. Steen’s mother, the relationship between the two, tensions? A mother’s boyfriend? The criticisms of her mother, her mother asking for apology, Christine giving it? The couple, watching television and seeing Christine shoot herself?

14. Going to the gun store, the enquiries, buying the gun?

15. Christine becoming overly calm, cheerful, asking if she could be the anchor, the various reactions, talking about sensationalism, her script, shooting herself, the effect? The note saying that it was an attempt rather than the reality? Are going to hospital, her death?

16. The reactions of the various characters – especially Jean to greet?

17. The story behind the headlines?