Miss Sloane
(USA/UK, 129 min.)
(USA/UK, 129 min.)
Dir. John Madden, Writ. Jonathan Perera
Starring: Jessica Chastain,
Mark Strong, Michael Stuhlbarg Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Alison Pill, Sam
Waterston, John Lithgow
“All you’re missing is a dick,” says a sly Congresswoman
(Christine Baranski) to cocksure lobbyist Madeleine Elizabeth Sloane (Jessica
Chastain). Liz Sloane might be the most badass character of the year, but don’t
make the mistake of assuming that her strength comes from her masculinisation.
She’s simply a driven career woman who cuts through the bullshit and looks
wickedly good in a pantsuit. Jessica Chastain is ferocious as the often
unlikable lobbyist, and Miss Sloane
offers audiences the new icon of Pantsuit Nation for the era of “nasty women”
and rotten politics.
Liz Sloane is the Miranda Priestley of her generation as she
strides successfully and confidently through the corridors of Washington.
(Actually, Toronto standing in for Washington in a fun game of “spot the
familiar locations.”) Where Miranda Priestly commands the fashion scene, Liz
Sloane rules the chess game of Capitol Hill. She swings votes like Miranda
spots trends, and clinks glasses of brown liquor at her desk like members of the
old boys club do. Miss Sloane, like Miranda Priestly or (sadly) Secretary Clinton, is
prone to the double standards of other eyes in a world traditionally dominated
by men. Political animals even wonder about the propriety of shaking her hand,
as opposed to doing something girly, like, you know, giving her a hug. Miss Sloane asserts that women can and
should occupy spaces alongside men in any field. They’re not just players,
though: like Liz, they’re in it to win it.
Gender comes into play big time in Miss Sloane when Liz receives a proposal to lobby in favour of
America’s gun owners and against the pesky liberals who want thorough
background checks on prospective gun buyers. The plan of attack, her
inquiring gun enthusiast Sanford (Chuck Shamata) suggests, is to make guns
appeal to women. Put a pistol in their hands to make America safe again.
Empower them through firearms. In film theory psychoanalytic terms, Sanford
thinks the effective campaign is one that endows women with confidence through
a phallus. In other words, give a woman a big honking dick.
Miss Sloane doesn’t play this preposterous angle, though,
and she takes a sweeter offer from the other side to make the USA safe by
lobbying in favour of stricter background checks. She accrues a team of players
from her firm, but divides her comrades when two key people, Pat Connors
(Michael Stuhlbarg) and, surprisingly, her driven assistant and closest ally Jane
Molloy (Alison Pill), stay among the firm as Liz separates the sheep
from the goats. At the new firm, she works under the guidance of Rodolfo
Schmidt (Mark Strong) and finds a new protégé in young upstart Esme Manucharian
(Gugu Mbatha-Raw), who shows the strongest potential as Liz lays out the plan
of attack.
Sloane becomes a conscience for America when the
dirty dealings of the lobbying game put her on trial in hearings before
Congress. Forced to withstand questions about the legitimacy of her affairs and
plead the Fifth to politicians who are themselves corrupt, Liz Sloane’s
frequently unlikabililty tasks the audience with playing judge and jury. It’s a
case of hating the game and not the player, though, as Chastain creates a
character who is so thoroughly compelling because she inhabits such a wide
swath of greys. Without a black or white shade on which to fall, she’s
admirable because one must admire the fight and conviction that exceeds Liz
Sloane’s character. Whatever one thinks of her personality, one must admire her
drive and conviction. Chastain chews up these moments that show Sloane’s drive
and perfectionism and she humanises a very difficult character by building an
exterior that needs to be broken down. Imagine Michael Clayton if it focused not on George Clooney’s suave fixer,
but on Tilda Swinton’s sharp, precise, and pit-stained lawyer.
Chastain owns the character’s faults, like her dogged
perfectionism and unhealthy drug-addled addiction to the high of winning. She
similarly uses the character’s perceived masculinity to challenge the notion
that men and women exist on a binary scale as Liz hooks up with escorts for
quick fucks to release her steam. She even bags a paid gentleman named Robert
Forde (Jake Lacy), who gets all girly and wants to talk and maybe grab some
breakfast after business.
These character traits all circle back to the film’s play on guns and gender. Twirling her Blackberry like John Wayne whirls a revolver, Chastain is a powerhouse in this performance. Her Liz Sloane is a plugged-in, no-nonsense, straight-shooting, poker-faced renegade with the coolness of a freewheeling lawman who paved the way for America in the early days. Unlike the heroes of classic westerns, though, Liz Sloane knows that the sun is setting on old America. Chastain gives the audience a figure who, unlike The Duke’s westerner, is boldly empowered without a pistol at her side. She’s strong with her sharp mind and wily intuition.
These character traits all circle back to the film’s play on guns and gender. Twirling her Blackberry like John Wayne whirls a revolver, Chastain is a powerhouse in this performance. Her Liz Sloane is a plugged-in, no-nonsense, straight-shooting, poker-faced renegade with the coolness of a freewheeling lawman who paved the way for America in the early days. Unlike the heroes of classic westerns, though, Liz Sloane knows that the sun is setting on old America. Chastain gives the audience a figure who, unlike The Duke’s westerner, is boldly empowered without a pistol at her side. She’s strong with her sharp mind and wily intuition.
Chastain’s excellent performance fuels a firecracker
supporting cast that includes a number of up-and-coming character actors from
the Toronto film scene, like Raoul Bhaneja as Sloane’s cocky rival and Grace Lynn
Kung as one of Liz’s resourceful ragamuffins, while Alison Pill’s expert poker
face guides Miss Sloane through unexpected turns. Mark Strong and Sam Waterston stack the cast playing the boys
of Capital Hill who can’t keep the pace with Liz Sloane, and Stulhbarg is a
worthy sniveling foil to Chastain’s icy resilience.
The standout from the supporting team is up-and-comer Gugu
Mbatha-Raw, though, who gives Miss Sloane
its vital core of humanity in a relatively unshowy role. Like Rachel
McAdams in Spotlight, this
performance puts the character’s compassion front and centre as Esme becomes
the crux for human connection in Liz’s campaign against gun violence. Mbatha-Raw’s
subtle, humane, and accessible performance shows that Liz Sloane’s coldly
protective shield comes at a cost. Humans aren’t made of bulletproof vests, and
when Liz’s ammunition stealthily aims to explode the campaign, Mbatha-Raw’s
Esme becomes the audience’s viewpoint into a risky business with no easy
answers.
Madden keeps the film smart, engaging, and unpredictable by
making the action and the cutting as energetic as the dialogue. Miss Sloane speaks fluent Sorkinese as
the lobbyists hunt in the world of the walk and talk, and the briskness of the
film keeps it unpredictable. The script from Jonathan Perera
understands the complexity of confronting the Second Amendment as Liz and Connors
assert their campaigns and pull strings, lobbying in favour of collective
safety on one side and an individual’s right to bear arms on the other with dramatic hyperbole.
Coming out at the end of a year that puts far too much gun violence on the history books, Miss Sloane hits a nerve as it encourages audiences to take a side on the debate that weighs personal rights against countless human lives. The film turns the argument on its head in a climactic on air debate in which Sloane and Connors trade barbs with more acidic bits than Trump and Clinton, and Chastain firmly gains control of the film by blowing the lobbyist’s passion and conviction wide open with an argument so articulate that it demands Congress’s ear.
Coming out at the end of a year that puts far too much gun violence on the history books, Miss Sloane hits a nerve as it encourages audiences to take a side on the debate that weighs personal rights against countless human lives. The film turns the argument on its head in a climactic on air debate in which Sloane and Connors trade barbs with more acidic bits than Trump and Clinton, and Chastain firmly gains control of the film by blowing the lobbyist’s passion and conviction wide open with an argument so articulate that it demands Congress’s ear.
Here’s where the character and the movie firmly become one.
Liz Sloane is all about the sneak attack. Her battle plan is one of
alternatives, forward thinking, and counter-manoeuvres. She’s always one-step
ahead of the competition even where she seems two paces behind. Miss Sloane delivers a sneak attack of
its own, as the film initially seems like a conventional thriller, but as Liz
Sloane makes the case personal, she shows that it’s the individual’s
responsibility to stand up and fight the system. Miss Sloane isn’t out to fight the Second Amendment: it’s out to nail
a corrupt system that is full of rats and rotten to the core.
Miss Sloane opens in theatres on December 9.
And don't miss the Cinemablographer interview with John Madden!
And don't miss the Cinemablographer interview with John Madden!