64
COLD
PIECE
WORK
TO MAKE HIS
MISSING PERSON DRAMEDY
WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE,
RICHARD LINKLATER DIRECTED
CATE BLANCHETT IN AN ICY LEAD
ROLE THAT WAS SHOT THROUGH
STORMS IN GREENLAND
BY EMMA MYERSR
ICHARD LINKLATER’S Where’d You Go, Bernadette opens with the answer to its tit-
ular question. In an impressively executed overhead shot, the camera gazes down
onto placid Antarctic waters as a group of highlighter-colored kayaks float into
the frame. One begins to break away from the pack and the following shot
reveals the lone paddler to be Bernadette Fox, played by the always-impec-
cable Cate Blanchett. With not a soul in sight, her expression is positively blissful.
“That was a drone shot and something that Rick always had in mind,” says
DP Shane F. Kelly, who has worked with Linklater on a number of films including
A Scanner Darkly, Boyhood, and Everybody Wants Some!! “It opens the film really
well, even if it kind of gives away the ending.”
Adapted from Maria Semple’s satirical novel of the same name about
a misanthropic former architect who vanishes from her Seattle home, the
madcap source material, which includes everything from an FBI investiga-
tion to a cross-continental chase, might sound like an out-of-character
choice for the director. Most celebrated for films that eschew the
very notion of plot in favor of freewheeling naturalism such as
Dazed and Confused, Boyhood, and the “Sunset” trilogy, it’s easy
to overlook the fact that Linklater is one of the most versatile
moviemakers working today. His filmography also includes
the mockumentary Bernie, the big-budget studio comedyof