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By the Sea

Basically Brangelina couples therapy

A blocked novelist and his mopey wife (Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie Pitt) while away the hours in a French seaside hotel peeking through a hole in the wall at a randy newlywed couple. If director Jolie Pitt’s aim was to recreate the melancholy of mid 60s European romanticism, this is a success. But it amounts to two hours of Jolie and Pitt undergoing couples therapy. Brief flashes of emotional truth in this aggressively humorless vanity production are smothered in overlong “mood” sequences and leaden dialogue. There’s no narrative arc or emotional payoff for your patience. Bored my friggin’ socks off. Japanese title: Shiroi Boushi no Onna. (122 min)