Verdict:
This film occasionally just shows up on TV at random times. At first, it seems to take a shape of a family drama on a farm, but then it goes somewhere else, and then somewhere else, and keeps going. Every time you think it’s about to end, it keeps going. I eventually tuned out and changed the channel, watched another movie, perhaps a show or two, then went into exile, then into cryostasis, as the human civilization collapsed around me and mountains got eroded by the wind. Then I awakened, turned the ancient TV back on and this bloody movie was still going!
And after it was finally done, with a somewhat anti-climactic finale, I could not for the life of me tell you what this movie was about or what it had to say. It goes all over the place, and in the end, it is just a story about a father and 3 sons living in Montana in the first part of the 20th century. Into that family unit enters Susannah, played by Julia Ormond, who seems fixated on the brothers and sleeps with whichever one of them happens to be alive and available at the time. But the movie plays it as if this is the most epic and tragic story ever. Hamlet ain’t got sh*t on Legends of the Fall. The scenes take their time, as the slow soundtrack by James Horner swells up, with the violins threatening to break the dam and flood your living room. At one point, one of the characters commits suicide but the motivation behind it is very questionable.
The two crutches that hold this movie up are the characters and the cinematography. The wide shots of Brad Pit’s wild hair against the background of Montana’s mountains and valleys, result in a very pretty film. On top of that, Brad Pit and Anthony Hopkins can make even a turd look like gold with their performances. The conversations between them and the other characters can be captivating and make you think you’re watching a better movie. But even these giants cannot keep your attention forever and, sooner or later, you are left with the tragic void that is the plot of this movie.
And so, Legends of the Fall is an extended set of pretty scenes, wearing a melodramatic veneer of art, pretending to be far more than what it is. Buy a postcard of Montana instead.