Review: Foxcatcher

Foxcatcher opens with old black-and-white footage of a fox hunt from some forgotten corner of history. A class of men and women who have long disappeared trot about on noble steeds, dressed to the hilt in aristocratic hunting regalia and staring from behind bristling moustaches (not the women though). This is Foxcatcher Farm. We are being shown a dynasty of humans who were born to rule. If a poor fox gets in their way, it will be ripped apart. As will any other beast.

The story is ‘based on truth’, that interminably vague ascertain that there is a grain somewhere that was indeed present at some moment in time. But this one seems fairly close to reality, having been praised for authenticity by one of the main figures portrayed (then lambasted for inaccuracy, and finally re-praised minus the odd caveat of exaggeration). Mark Schultz here is a silent, depressed young man. He lives humbly with a bare apartment and mundane routine. But he won the Olympic gold for wrestling, as did his more charismatic older brother, Dave, and dreams of further patriotic glory. He thinks of wrestling almost as an emblem for American pride, drawing an unspoken parallel between his exploits and Washington crossing the Delaware.

He gets a shot at that greater glory when John E. du Pont contacts him. Du Pont is (and was) a strange but immensely wealthy member of the du Pont family, an influential clan who had made a killing (no pun intended) selling gunpowder during their Civil War. He is a wrestling fan, and also dreams of American glory through the sport. So he builds a state of the art training facility on his estate, Foxcatcher Farm, and invites Mark to build a team.

Du Pont is played by Steve Carell, usually a comic actor, but already drawing huge praise for this transformation, both physical and in terms of character. Du Pont is lost, lonely, sleazy. He is always in control despite his diminutive physical stature, thanks to Carell’s dominating, unspoken menace. Carell mimics well but allows du Pont to become a cinematic character, a little less like the everyday du Pont perhaps but with the exact same mannerisms, speech patterns and gait. He is desperate to bond with these blue collar guys in a primitive sport, one which his equine-obsessed mother considers ‘low’. He is sad that his one childhood buddy was paid to play with him by his mother. And yet he uses his wealth to buy tournament victories and everything else. Although he considers Mark a friend, it all comes down to money and how much he will pay him. Du Pont is lost in his own isolating wealth.

Channing Tatum should also be lavished with praise. People think of him as the slab of meat in the G.I. Joe franchise, but here he is excellent as Mark. He is a grunting man, full of sorrow, depression and silence. He barely talks, instead communicating physically – the relationship with his brother is conveyed through a wrestling scene early on in brilliant metaphor. Almost as lost as du Pont, the two bond in a strange father-son relationship that leaves no room for Mark Ruffalo’s affable Dave Schultz. This is where things get complicated, the trio heading for a nasty car crash (metaphorically of course, I haven’t given away the dramatic automobile climax).

From the start there is an animalistic presence: Foxcatcher Farm displays countless fox statues and trinkets; Du Pont’s mother is obsessed with her horses, a metaphor for her upper class sensibilities and distance, the animals symbolically being let loose by John; the millionaire is an ornithologist who has published books on birds. He himself moves like a sneaky fox, stalking his victims and ready to attack or slink away at any moment. Mark bulldozes through the mansion like a bull in a china shop (much like in Raging Bull or Bullhead). Also, men obsessed with birds are usually weirdos in cinema.

The style and setting all convey a fatalistic, foreboding feeling. The countryside is melancholy, seemingly always trapped between Autumn and Winter, with Mark taciturn and du Pont slow. Music is minimal and minimalistic. The large, lonely mansion sits silently in the mist. It all enhances the uncomfortable vibe.

And Foxcatcher is certainly chilling. The menace stayed with me, and I couldn’t shake du Pont out of my mind. After seeing Birdman last week I forgot about what I had seen soon after, but this I remembered. Where Birdman is about one guy, this is much more a study of humans: just like Raging Bull it uses sport to examine people more broadly. Those men and women in the opening footage are shown as very much still around.

Weird