An Author’s Manuscript Has Her Keeping the Plot, and Her Life, a Secret

Meryl Streep and Lucas Hedges in
"Let Them All Talk"
Photo Credit: RottenTomatoes.com

Over his career, Steven Soderbergh always managed to show an ambition with whichever movie he made, having a career that expands many genres.  No matter which movie of his that you watch, you always come away remembering it.  Even when he takes a more-restrained approach to filmmaking, he’s still able to create something that reminds you of the vast talent he has displayed throughout the last three decades.

His latest movie, “Let Them All Talk,” is a comedy-drama that’s an example of this not-often-seen approach to his directing.  With this movie, he uses a scaled-back, intimate story, which still manages to show his ability to work with a talented cast and engage his audience.

Alice Hughes (Meryl Streep) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author who’s working on her latest manuscript.  She’s invited to receive a literary award in England, but is hesitant about flying, so her agent, Karen (Gemma Chan), books a cruise.  Alice decides to invite her nephew, Tyler (Lucas Hedges), and her two best friends from college, Roberta (Candice Bergen) and Susan (Dianne Wiest).  As their trip unfolds, tensions will arise that will have Alice, Roberta, and Susan catching up and confronting issues from their past.

Streep portrays an author who seems much more comfortable expressing herself in the pages of her books than in talking with other people.  It’s a performance of subtle heartbreak because of how detached Alice seems to be from everyone else, encouraging the audience to read into her every word and facial expression in order to figure out what’s occurring in the mind of this writer.  As the movie goes on and you learn a little bit about her here and there, the screenplay and Streep’s performance do well in making you believe that the Alice you’re watching isn’t the Alice from before the events of the movie.  Streep shows Alice as a bit of a recluse, slightly socially inept person who has adopted a snobby way of speaking, making her into a person who her friends don’t quite recognize, leaving it up to Alice’s acquaintances and us to figure out what’s really going on in her life.

Just like Streep, the supporting cast provides performances that seem very natural in how they portray their characters.  Bergen and Wiest have a wonderful bond with Streep, with Bergen’s character showing a quiet resentment towards Streep that has us wonder about their friendship, and Wiest exhibiting a warm persona as she tries to keep the peace between her friends.  Hedges and Chan do just as well when interacting with Streep, Bergen, and Wiest, while also building a relationship that’s all of the more engaging because of their genuine chemistry.

The screenplay by Deborah Eisenberg takes a languid pace with the use of a rather small plot, but the unhurried pace and size of the narrative aren’t flaws, but are aspects that allow us to get to know the characters through dialogue that seems authentic both in terms of how it’s written and the way in which the characters deliver those lines.  The everyday nature of these discussions make us pay attention to them even more because of how grounded they sound.  

Despite having an actress as acclaimed as Streep in the lead role, the screenplay still gives us plenty of time to spend with the other characters and to understand their histories and the connections that they have with each other.  Alice’s way of tiptoeing around the disclosure of personal and work details, as well as her friends talking to each other and speculating what’s going on in Alice’s enigmatic world, creates an enticing view into an author’s life and writing process.

The title is asking us to let the characters talk everything out, but is also Streep’s character letting us know that she doesn’t care what others say about her, and she’s just going to let them all talk.  We’re placed in the position of the characters that are involved in Alice’s life as they ponder the secrets that Alice is keeping from them, and we find ourselves having inner discussions as to what’s going on with Alice.

Soderbergh takes a relaxed approach to his directing, seeming to simply just sit back and let the cast converse and express their emotions as their trip unfolds.  He doesn’t use a lot of filmmaking flourishes with his cinematography, but instead has the camera solely focus on the characters, showing that he has enough confidence in the mysteriousness of the narrative and the talents of the cast to keep the story moving along.  It’s because of this mysteriousness that “Let Them All Talk” will have you doing quite a bit of talking afterwards.

Grade: A