Seberg Parent Guide

Jean Seberg (Kristen Stewart), a young midwestern girl who made her dreams come true as a star in French New Wave cinema, is in trouble. After helping Hakim Jamal (Anthony Mackie) with funding for his civil rights movement, and later with the Black Panthers, she has found herself in the crosshairs of the FBI. Jack Solomon (Jack O’Connell), the agent assigned to bug her home, tap her phones, and observe her, becomes part of a campaign to discredit and humiliate Seberg publicly. As Jean realizes just what she’s got herself into, the pressure starts to unravel her entire life…

Kristen Stewart has an undeserved reputation as a somewhat wooden performer - I think stemming largely from her unfortunate turn in the Twilight series. In Seberg, however, Stewart is warm, exciting, and personable. Yvan Attal, on the other hand, who plays Romain Gary (her husband), is about as bland as is humanly possible. He probably would have been equally interesting had he been cast as a two-by-four in a suit with a fake beard. On the other hand, the production is certainly easy on the eyes. Maybe it’s just my continued love of all that sixties architecture and interior design, but this movie is an absolute pleasure to look at.

Seberg has a highly significant subject, i.e. the persecution of political activists by the government, which should make the movie valuable as an education tool. Unfortunately, its suitability is undercut by its numerous content concerns. Adulterous sexual encounters which include toplessness and cartoons with racist and pornographic subjects do not lend themselves well to viewing by teens - nor do the over two dozen profanities. Frequent consumption of alcohol, cigarettes, and a brief scene including marijuana do not add to the educational merits either. I’m not saying these aspects are historically inaccurate, but it does make it rather difficult to recommend to viewers who don’t have a high level of tolerance for this kind of material.

This is an interesting film about a hugely important issue, which is largely out of public consciousness. The fact that, for the better part of twenty years, the Federal Bureau of Investigation used its nearly limitless resources to bug, threaten, and harass American citizens involved in the civil rights movement (among other politically unpopular causes) is deeply disturbing. While I appreciate the film bringing this unpleasant piece of history back into the spotlight, I wish that it had taken a deeper cut into its source material. The human angle is good for attracting attention and personal interest, but what this film needs is a better sense of the political context that allowed these abuses.