**In 1830, Augustus Landor arrives as a Sherlock in the snow at West Point, aremote military academy on the frozen Hudson River. It is an atmosphericlandscape that you say to yourself, except that outside the gates there is acorpse dangling from a tree. Unfortunately, the mystery pays off The PaleBlue Eye in strength with each subsequent victim, and especially convincesthe icy environment in which the film is set. **
By how a solid, serious Christian Bale with a lived-in recluse appearancetakes the first clues, you don’t expect his Watson-like opposite to flood himwith one waterfall of speech after another. But outside the gates, near thefirst crime scene, Landor meets none other than Edgar Allan Poe. Harry Melling(known as Dirk Duffeling in the Harry Potter films) plays the iconic poet inthe shadow of Bale. Who actually spent the winter of 1830 at West Point in hisyoung adult years.
It should come as no surprise that the victims followed each other in rapidsuccession after the first hanging. Landor is tormented by his own demonsduring his quest for evil: he turns out to be a widower, and sees his missingdaughter appear in his mind’s eye. When he eventually takes the law into hisown hands, it is reminiscent of Bale’s character in Out of the Furnace aprevious collaboration with director Scott Cooper.
The collaboration between the elderly Landor and the young Poe is not withoutproblems, especially when the cadet-in-training becomes obsessed with Lea, astylishly dressed young lady who is plagued by a rare disease. The best clueto the heart of the story appears to come from the occult library of anelderly counselor (Robert Duvall).
It is and remains a bit awkward to see Landor and Poe together, especiallybecause the film’s persistently serious tone suits Bale better than its co-star. Admittedly, the mischievous image that Melling gave to the HarryPotter films has been left over may also bother some viewers, but in the endit depends more on the screenplay. Purely because it concerns Poe, or so itseems, his inspired lyrics keep following each other. Since the mystery hasmeanwhile developed into a cult scenario, normally often fertile ground forhumor and absurdism, the endlessly dramatic interpretation of Poe’s characterfeels increasingly forced.
The Pale Blue Eye eventually tells two stories through its mixture ofpersonal drama and occult mystery. In theory, those stories should complementeach other seamlessly, but in practice it is contrived, because the cross-connections ultimately break up the story and make it overly explanatory. Thecareful image direction (with sufficient breathing pauses between the scenes)and the atmospheric view of a wintry snowy landscape keep the first majorNetflix film of 2023 fascinating for over two hours.
The Pale Blue Eye can be seen on Netflix.