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Hydrotherapy

Written, directed, and co-produced by Angelina Jolie Pitt (as she is now billed), "By the Sea" is the first Brangelina outing since 2005's "Mr. & Mrs. Smith". Those expecting a sequel to that Hollywood rom-com will be surprised to find themselves watching a French arthouse film.

Vanessa (Angelina Jolie Pitt) and Roland (Brad Pitt) are an American couple vacationing in a seaside town in 1970s France to repair their marriage after an undisclosed personal trauma. For most of the film, they give each other all the dysfunctional space they need, as they say very little, and do even less.

Vanessa, a former dancer, and Roland, a has-been writer, both fill their emptiness with their drug of choice (his: alcohol; hers: prescription pills). Their characters are defined by what they don't do. He fails to write anything. She fails to do much of anything. This is, often enough, more interesting than it sounds, as the slow pace amplifies each gesture and enhances every detail.

This dynamic can't be maintained for long, and thankfully other characters arrive to add some frisson. Young honeymooning French couple Lea (Melanie Laurent) and Francois (Melvil Poupaud) remind Vanessa and Roland how they used to be, which is both good and bad. They also provide the movie's only comic relief. A hole in the wall that divides their rooms allows the American couple to watch the French couple doing what newlyweds do. Vanessa and Roland look like any couple sitting on the couch watching Netflix, or, more accurately, YouPorn.

Since little happens by way of plot, the atmosphere assumes a larger role. The cinematography (Christian Berger) and score (Gabriel Yared) are expressively gorgeous without being distracting. This cannot be said of Vanessa, whose impeccable makeup and wardrobe don't seem to jibe with her debilitating darkness. Roland is Hemingwayesque with his drinking and his moustache, and shifts between angelic and diabolic. Both Pitt and Jolie speak convincing French, which is given equal time to English (there are subtitles). The local bar proprietor (Niels Arestrup) gets a lot of screen time due to Roland's drinking habit, and he is good company throughout.

Vanessa and Roland are not Angelina and Brad. Still, there is a disorienting aspect to seeing this celebrity Hollywood couple in a New Wave vanity project. It can feel like arriving at a McDonald's with valet parking. "I'm lovin' it?" you ask the valet. "No," he swoons, "you are enamored of it." Though "By the Sea" may not have a compelling reason for being, it has a certain je ne sais quoi that made it worth doing.