From 1996’s Basquiat to 2007’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, painter turned filmmaker Julian Schnabel has steadily advanced his skills. But his new Miral stumbles, both thematically and stylistically. The two things that undermine the director’s balance? Peace and love.
Tracking three generations of Palestinian women, Miral is the Jewish director’s clumsy bid for harmony in Israel and its occupied territories. The movie is also Schnabel’s ode to his title character, a lightly fictionalized portrait of real-life paramour Rula Jebreal.
Based on her autobiographical novel, the Palestinian journalist’s script focuses on a version of her teenage self. She’s named Miral (after the writer’s own daughter) and played by Slumdog Millionaire‘s Freida Pinto, who strongly resembles the younger Jebreal.
This personal approach would seem to suit Schnabel’s methods. His three previous features have all been subjective accounts of artistes who exist outside mainstream society; the trend culminated in Butterfly‘s account of a paralyzed writer who lives entirely in his mind.
Yet Miral begins as though it’s a historical epic, with a map of Palestine, sober violin music and a title card bearing an evocative date: Christmas 1947. A wealthy Palestinian Christian family is celebrating, joined by a few Western friends (distracting cameos by Vanessa Redgrave and Willem Dafoe). The center of attention is Hind (Hiam Abbass), whose name briefly fills the screen — as will, subsequently, the names of three other women.