Another Earth (2011), Directed by Mike Cahill; Screenplay by Mike Cahill and Brit Marling
On the night of her acceptance to M.I.T., 17-year-old Rhoda Williams causes a very bad thing to happen to a seemingly good, at least faultless family. After a night of adolescent drinking, Rhoda causes a fatal car accident, killing the wife and son and unborn child of John Burroughs, a Yale professor, who alone with Rhoda, survives. Rhoda serves four years in jail for her crimes and returns to her childhood home in suburban Connecticut. She works days as a janitor in the local high school and spends long hours walking in slow motion through her hometown—perhaps because her probation forbids her from having a driver’s license, or maybe these walks are an apt metaphor for how she plods wearily through what’s become of her life.
In the background of Rhoda’s life—and every outdoor shot in the film—hangs the outline of Earth 2, a life-supporting planet discovered in Rhoda’s world the same day as the accident. Four years after Earth 2’s discovery, these earthlings discover the existence of parallel selves walking/talking/breathing/living on the other planet. It’s quite a concept, and a fantasy for a young woman whose guilt in this life is intractable. Rhoda begins a relationship, unintentionally at first, with John Burroughs, though he is unaware of her role in the accident that killed his family.
Rhoda, played by Brit Marling, presents a challenge to her audience in that we must sympathize with her character without wallowing in her almost paralyzing grief. Ms. Marling has the ability to showcase melancholy without despondency, which helps us hold onto the hope that Rhoda’s chance at happiness wasn’t stolen forever on the night of the accident.
Much has been made of Ms. Marling, with her Rapunzel-like locks and solemn voice, who co-wrote the script with director Mike Cahill. Her combination of brains and beauty is not something to be trifled with, but it’s somewhat disheartening to see Hollywood treat her like she’s an anomaly.
She’s mostly very on point, although some of the tense scenes between her and John (William Mapother) are overplayed. More poignant are smaller, subtler moments in the film such as Rhoda’s indecision regarding the purchase of a carton of gummy bears. It’s here where the crux of Rhoda’s dilemma is clear—even if she chooses to be a functioning member of her world, will she forgive herself? Is her crime even forgivable?
Another Earth functions as a drama of familiar emotions unfolding within an uncanny setting. While the world Rhoda inhabits is familiar, it isn’t ours. Perhaps, like the promise of Earth 2’s imaginary inhabitants, it asks us to project the images of nobler selves upon our ordinary lives.
