James McAvoy and Jessica Chastain star as an asshat and botched suicide, respectively, whose marriage fell apart with the death of their young son. Producer Harvey ‘Scissorhands’ Weinstein took first time writer-director Ned Benson’s dolorous trilogy — combined total running time of 311 minutes — and sliced them down to one two-hour feature. Normally I’d call for his head, but in the case of this endlessly uncinematic ribbon of reverse angles of people talking, he’s done us all a solid. There is not one memorable visual or cut in the entire picture and as such, Eleanor might just as easily disappear on the radio. Films like this exist for two reasons: to showcase sound acting and to leave audiences feeling like crap. With Isabelle Huppert, William Hurt, Ciarán Hinds, an ill-fitting Bill Hader as McEvoy’s sitcom-ish BFF, and above all Viola Dana, whose singular delivery could enthrall and entrance even if it were called upon to recite license plate numbers. (2014) — Scott Marks
This movie is not currently in theaters.