Review of Third Person (2014) by Maksim B — 02 Sep 2015

Pretentious, stylish and relatively compelling, Third Person is a slow-paced multi-layered story that might not fully satisfy you in terms of pacing and development, but it would partially compensate with the formidable presence of its actors. A sort of an intimate essay by director Paul Haggis, this romantic drama could have been much more emotionally engaging in order to have a stronger impact in its final part.

Similar to the movie that made Paul Haggis an Academy winner (Crash), Third Person is built up around several different stories set in Paris, New York and Rome with different initially disconnected from each other characters. Once again, just like in Crash, the characters from the different stories interact with each other to a minimum, but with a major impact for them. Even though this approach is already known to the audience, you may actually still like it mainly due to the actors involved. The romance, the estranged relationships, the distrust and secrets from the past are all blended in a story which has one main issue. The issue is called pacing. The slow pacing combined with the complex story and lack of emotional connection result in a delivery hard to follow and towards the final part even if you actually like the final act, you would feel detached from the characters and their fates.

In conclusion, Third Person is not a bad movie, but given its director and the cast it could be considered a disappointment that it fails to provoke and to fully engage the audience.