The Last Five Years
Richard LaGravenese

The story: The film begins with forlorn actress Cathy Hiatt (Anna Kendrick) reading a farewell note from her husband Jamie Wellerstein (Jeremy Jordan), a rising novelist. We find out how the couple went from the heady flush of a new love to their irreconcilable present over the course of five years. Adapted from the musical of the same name by Jason Robert Brown.

How does a couple who start out so in love end up walking away from a marriage? What happened? When did it all go wrong?
The idea that there are two sides to every story works its way into the structure of this musical. We hear from both Cathy and Jamie in turn as the narrative jumps back and forth in time.
Tellingly, we hardly hear the two sing together.
Mostly, we hear Cathy’s perspective, starting from the bitter end and moving back in time. On the other hand, Jamie’s voice begins from the golden glow of new love and moves forward.
They meet in the middle at a pivotal moment when, finally, both sing together as Jamie proposes to Cathy.
But director Richard LaGravenese (P.S. I Love You, 2007) throws a kink into the narrative, suggesting that the two remember the event differently.
Even when you break it down and thoroughly dissect a relationship, it might not be possible to say for certain what went wrong.
Whose fault is it that Jamie’s success drives a wedge between them and Cathy flounders to find her own voice? From wanting “miles and piles” of Jamie at first, she finds that “miles and piles” of him begin to suffocate her.
In the songs that have a slice-of-life feel to them and are often conversational in tone, both actors convey that intimacy with ease.
It more than helps that both stars are well qualified to sing and act and emote through song. With Broadway experience and a Tony nomination under her belt, Kendrick has become a go-to actress for film musicals, including Into The Woods (2014) and Pitch Perfect (2012). Jordan’s Broadway musical credits are even more extensive than hers, including 2011’s Bonnie & Clyde.
Both their characters come across as real and flawed, both trying to make things work and frustrated by the impossibility of it.
The musical was based on composer- lyricist Brown’s failed marriage and there is poignancy here in the contrast between the sweet happiness of love’s first bloom and the pain and frustration when it sours.
That contrast is movingly presented in the final song when their positions are reversed: Cathy is brimming with hope and joy at the start of the relationship and Jamie is hurting at its end.
It is not an ending that either could have dreamt of or wanted, and yet, there they are.
(ST)