SEBERG

Worthy. Screenwriters Anna Waterhouse and Joe Shrapnel do a respectable job with the impossible task of condensing the complex character of Jean Seberg (see Jean Luc Goddard's "Breathless") into an unvarnished filmic portrait. To that end, Kristen Stewart excels at every level. Kristen Stewart is just so damned convincing as Jean Seberg. We buy her, heart and soul. To say that Ms. Stewart’s portrayal is brilliant is a vast understatement.

Still, the film derails at various ham-fisted plot points as when a villainous character kills a dog. Screenwriting 101, no children or dogs unless absolutely necessary.

The film’s thematic point that the FBI’s COINTELPRO Surveillance Program, under freaky-deaky FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, was responsible in some degree for Jean Seberg’s untimely death is clear. While not a date movie, “Seberg” is well worth watching. 

Jean Seberg was tortured and nearly killed by Otto Preminger while playing Joan of Arc in his film version. She also believed in supporting the Black Power Movement of the ‘60s. Naiveté will get you every time.   

Rated R. 102 mins. 

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