What Maisie Knew

Movie Title--  What Maisie Knew

Release Year-- 2012

Running Time-- 1 Hour and 39 Minutes

Production Company-- Red Crown Productions

Director-- Scott McGehee and David Siegel

Cast-- Onata Aprile, Julianne Moore, Steve Coogan, Alexander Skarsgard, Joanna Vanderham

7-year old Maisie is caught in the middle of a custody battle between her mother, an aging rock star trying to hold on to her youth and her father, a major art dealer that wants total control and no responsibility.  

This is the story of Maisie (Onata Aprile), a 7-year old girl stuck in the middle of a horrible custody battle between her parents that only use her to get back at the other parent.  Maisie's mother Susanna (Julianne Moore) is an aging, self-centered rock star that kicks her art dealer husband, Beale (Steve Coogan) out when he leaves her for what is eluded to as "the last time".  They go to court and Beale is given partial custody of Maisie, much to Susanna's disapproval.  To make himself look better and to anger Susanna, Beale marries Maisie's nanny, the very young and good looking Margo (Joanna Vanderham).  In retaliation, Susanna marries a handsome younger bartender named Lincoln.  Soon, Margo and Lincoln become collateral damage in Susanna and Beale's battle over Maisie.

The description really sounds very simple but really there is more to it than that.  The whole film centers around Maisie and the interactions she has with the four adults in her life.  This movie is from her point of view, we only hear the parts of the adult's conversations that Maisie overhears when she comes into a room where someone is talking.  This gives the movie, in my own opinion, a very sad undertone to it even though there are a lot of happy moments for Maisie all through it.  The reason is because in the back of your mind you know that although she is happy when she is with her step-parents, her real parents are, in essence, slowly abandoning her.

As the movie progresses it shows Maisie's relationships with her parents becoming more distant while she is growing closer to her step-parents.  In the film, Margo plays the role of a constant adult in her life (although once she marries Beale, she becomes a 10 day at a time parent); someone that makes Maisie feel safe and protected.  Maisie already has a relationship with Margo before her father marries her but a big part of the movie shows Maisie building a relationship with Lincoln.  Lincoln's relationship with Maisie helps to open her up a little, bringing Maisie out of her shell some and helping her find her creative side.  Susanna marries Lincoln so that she would have a live in babysitter (one of the reasons Beale marries Margo) when she goes out of town but she becomes very jealous when she sees Lincoln trying to build a relationship with Maisie.  Beale and Susanna actions and selfishness show the viewer how little they care about their child and how they would rather use her against the other.

I read somewhere this at times this movie is hard to watch and with that I do have to agree.  I thought that the performances of the actors in the film were pretty good, especially between Skarsgard and Aprile but since the movie is from a child's point of view, there are a lot of moments that are devoid of much sound other than background noise, making some scenes seem repetitious and drawn out.  There are also a few times during the movie that I felt like Skarsgard's character had an awkward feeling to him.  He tends to walk hunched over a lot and I am not sure if that is because the script called for it or if because he felt the need to lower his 6' 4 1/2" frame to a more even height to some of his fellow actors but this also adds to the awkward feeling that I got watching Lincoln on screen.  

Overall this is a story of love and loss, although not in a traditional kind of way.  For me, watching Maisie with Lincoln and Margo makes me hate her parents for being so self centered (or that could be the mom in me).  This is another film with an Indie type feel to it.  I really enjoyed the camera work, especially in the scenes that were filmed outside when the characters were goofing off.  I thought this was a pretty good movie, I would recommend it to anyone that happened to be looking for something a little bit different than what they are used to.  This is one to curl up on the couch with on a rainy night, oh yeah, and Don't Forget the Popcorn!