T
HE FILM’s primary source of pathos
comes from the interactions between
Bernadette and her daughter. In one
affecting scene, the two are driving in the
pelting Seattle rain singing along dramati-
cally to Cyndi Lauper’s Time After Time when
Bernadette breaks down into tears. “I just
want you to know how hard it is for me
sometimes,” she tells Bee. The extent to which
she is truly trying her best for Bee’s sake
becomes increasingly apparent as the movie
progresses. Even if Bee doesn’t fully under-
stand why Bernadette is the way she is, it’s
their unshakable mother-daughter bond that
propels the narrative forward.
While her husband has serious (and not
totally unwarranted) reservations about
Bernadette’s sanity—he hires a psychiatrist
(Judy Greer) to intervene in their family
life—Bee remains absolutely steadfast that
her mom is not crazy. “Just because you can’t
understand something, doesn’t mean you
can’t at least try,” she tells her father. It’s at
Bee’s insistence that they hop the next flight
to Antarctica in pursuit of Bernadette.
Though essential to the story, the geo-
graphical jump in the film’s second half
brought with it a number of challenges.
“It was a lot of logistics,” says Kelly. “ ‘How
to get from the shore to the boat? Where
do we land?’ You have to be able to roll with
what you’re being presented with.” One of thethings the crew had to roll with was a major
storm that hit their boat in Greenland, where
most of the Antarctica footage involving
the cast was shot. “It was intense,” recalls
Linklater. “We were shooting in it up to
a point. I’d say, ‘Cut,’ and half the crew would
disappear and go throw up. We had a little
test screening and someone commented that
they thought the CGI in that scene didn’t look
real,” he laughs. “That’s a true hurricane!”
Despite that Where’d You Go, Bernadette is
a bigger budget project than he often works
on—replete with special effects and exotic
locations—Linklater maintains that his ap-
proach remains the same. “You only know
your own process,” he says. “Maybe it changes
regarding scale and pace, but it’s kind of the
same damn thing every time. That’s what I’ve
come to realize: You’re stuck with yourself!”
Did he at least have more energy to devote
to directing given he wasn’t pulling double
duty as a producer, as he normally does?
“I didn’t even know I wasn’t a producer on
this until we were doing the closing credits,”
he laughs. “I did exactly what I’ve done on
all my movies for the last 20 years.” An indie
director through and through. MMWhere’d You Go, Bernadette opens August
16, 2019, courtesy of Annapurna Pictures /
United Artists Releasing.people.” Blanchett delivers the word with
such palpable disdain, even Molière would
be impressed. “I’d be trapped with 147 other
humans,” she continues, having already
calculated the smallest possible cruise ship
she could be on, “who will uniquely annoy
me with their rudeness and waste, incessant
yammering, boring small talk, creepy food
requests, or worse—they’ll turn their curiosity
toward me and expect pleasantry in return.”
Impressively, she’s not even out of breath.
“It was a fine line, the likability issue,” says
Linklater. “Some of the funniest parts in the
book are Bernadette’s rants.” But what reads
on the page doesn’t necessarily play onscreen
and one of the biggest challenges writing
the script was striking the perfect balance.
“Cate knew that line, too,” adds Linklater.
“She’d say, ‘Bernadette wouldn’t do this,’ or
‘Bernadette would do that.’ She’s such a great
collaborator and a strong voice for herself.
There’s a reason she is where she is in this
world, obviously. I really did trust her.”MOVIEMAKER.COM SUMMER 2019 67PHOTOGRAPHS BY WILSON WEBB / COURTESY OF ANNAPURNA PICTURES
DIRECTING STARS BLANCHETT (C) AND
LAURENCE FISHBURNE (L), THE GOAL WAS TO PARE
DOWN WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE’S COMPLEX
SCENES TO THEIR SIMPLEST FORM, SAYS LINKLATER (R)< BEE MOVIE: AS BERNADETTE’S DAUGHTER
BEE BRANCH, YOUNG STAR EMMA NELSON (L)
HOLDS HER OWN ALONGSIDE BLANCHETT’S (R)
BRAVURA PERFORMANCE“^
YOU ONLY KNOW
YOUR OWN PROCESS.
MAYBE IT CHANGES SCALE AND
PACE, BUT IT’S THE SAME DAMN
THING EVERY TIME. THAT’S WHAT
I’VE COME TO REALIZE: YOU’RE
STUCK WITH YOURSELF!
”^
—RICHARD LINKLATER