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Aug 01, 2023

Why We Need to Talk About Kevin Is One of the Most Bothersome Films of All Time

We Need to Talk About Kevin's story and its delivery are off-putting through and

We Need to Talk About Kevin's story and its delivery are off-putting through and through, spanning visual, auditory, emotional, and internal senses.

We Need to Talk About Kevin has gathered a reputation as an enduringly uncomfortable movie to watch. The film was directed by Lynne Ramsay and released in 2011, bringing a version of author Lionel Shriver's dark novel to the big screen. Its experimental vision expertly tells the story of a teen who commits a mass murder at his high school and the ways in which his crimes upend his family and community. The story and its delivery are off-putting through and through, spanning visual, auditory, emotional, and internal senses. We Need to Talk About Kevin is one of the most bothersome films of all time because of the unsettling realism it portrays to audiences through a striking piece of media, emphasizing very real similar crises.

Like many films, the sensory aesthetic that We Need to Talk About Kevin presents towards its audience helps to communicate the emotions of each scene. The film clearly favors the color red, as noted and highlighted online by viewers and film fans, which the average viewer should notice while watching as well. It can be observed in most scenes: for example, the red paint that Eva scrapes away from the outside of her new home, her bottles of red wine, the red tail ends of Kevin's arrows, and the red tinsel tucked into his younger sister Celia's mouth before she tells her mom, "Me and Kevin were playing Christmas kidnapping." The color yellow is also significant – Celia's room, Eva's car, the walls at her work, the infamous bike locks Kevin utilizes at school, and prison visitor badges – potentially alluding to aspects and items which Kevin's actions gave new and tragic meaning.

Besides color, the film's editing is sometimes smooth, and at other times shocking and conflicting, imparting that feeling to viewers. The past and present often come together from Eva's perspective, especially when two scenes are juxtaposed together quickly to connect them to one another. Other than how it appears to the eyes, the film's emotionality is conveyed through its focus on diegetic and nondiegetic sounds as well. As Kevin stands in the gym with his bow and arrow, taking a bow, the audience hears something between what might be cheers for him and unmistakable horrified screams. The sound mixes with strings as police lighting flickers across the scene.

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The story of We Need to Talk About Kevin generally revolves around two central characters: Eva Khatchadourian (Tilda Swinton) and her son, Kevin (Ezra Miller). Although Kevin has a father, Franklin (John C. Reilly) and his young sister, Celia (Ashley Gerasimovich), his life is filled with complicated interactions between him and his mother as he gets older. Tilda Swinton's portrayal of Eva details the hardships of being a parent who has a problematic connection (or lack thereof) to their mentally ill child. During Kevin's adolescence before the killings, she stays quietly determined towards creating a good life for her family. Unfortunately, her growing beliefs that Kevin is not able to be trusted prove true. As The Guardian describes her character, "Swinton portrays Eva as a ghost, haunting her past and haunted by it."

Ezra Miller's performance as Kevin is one of the best of their career, giving them the opportunity to portray a troubled teenager who eventually becomes a hardened criminal. In reality, the actor's recent illegal activities have given them a negative reputation in the past couple of years. In We Need to Talk About Kevin, audiences get a taste of how serious law-breaking to that level can become, though Miller didn't commit an offense as large-scale as their character Kevin's successive murders. However, Miller has been accused a number of serious crimes; in any observation; audiences can note some behavioral connection between the two, especially since the movie is one of Miller's most significant performances. Last year, they acknowledged the depth of what they'd done; they are now thankfully in treatment for "complex mental health issues."

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The film explores the more outwardly dangerous side of mental health issues, rather than those that typically only internally target the person experiencing mental illness. Since his childhood, Kevin's behavior has appeared abnormal, causing his family concern as he grows up. Throughout the plot, his outbursts go from what look like childish growing pains to twisted and purposefully conscious acts. Over time, his presentation of mental illness becomes much more external as he slips into homicidal ideation and eventual action on those thoughts. Kevin's darkening mental state intensifies as he grows up, and the foundational relationship that he and Eva share probably added to his already harsh view of the world and himself.

A 2019 CDC survey revealed: "More than 7% of [United States] high school students had been threatened or injured with a weapon (for example, a gun, knife, or club) on school property one or more times during the 12 months before the survey." While Kevin doesn't kill his classmates with a gun, he still utilizes a deadly weapon on school property, resulting in multiple casualties and deaths. The film encourages viewers not to ignore the reality of violence in school settings, the signs that precede them, and the importance of intervention in mental health issues that affect children and teens. The story's messages appear more essential in today's culture, despite the film being released over 10 years ago now. We Need to Talk About Kevin is not a film that audiences should miss, and making time to watch it might come in handy for more increased awareness on similar issues in the real world.

Anna Dorl is a writer and journalist from Virginia. She's excited to put her minor in Film Studies to good use.