At the press screening of The Invitation, while Seth Rogen is a version of all the characters he has played in the last twenty years, or of himself, and Olivia Wilde is a deranged woman who searches for a reason, however small, to keep her marriage going, I couldn’t stop thinking about how much I wanted to see this film with my husband.
It is true that, after twenty years together it is easier to believe that what is shown on screen is real, and your life may end up becoming that: a man who doesn’t listen, one (or several) of his clumsy moments that ruin everything, plans that are actually a personal trap, a perfectionist woman who, to sum up, finds fault with everything.
Despite the pile of small things that end up undermining the strength of a couple, The Invitation is tremendously funny. The story isn’t new; in fact, it’s an adaptation of Cesc Gay’s Sentimental, but in its runtime of one hour and forty-seven minutes everything fits, works, and endures.
The Neighbors Are to Blame
Everything except Angela and Joe’s marriage, because the weight of the backpacks each of them carries is too heavy to lighten, and to think of playful plans that would keep them from remembering their miserable lives. Fortunately we enter their lives at the moment when the neighbors decide, or Angela (Wilde) invites them, to come down for dinner. And there is nothing like introducing a carefree couple into a tense setting to make the mood collapse and the truth spill over onto too many faces.
Penélope Cruz and Olivia Wilde in an image from The Invitation.
That’s where Penélope Cruz delivers one of her most rounded performances by stepping into the skin of Pina: the beautiful, exuberant, and uninhibited neighbor who won’t hesitate to say that perhaps today’s shouts were yesterday’s silences, or that no matter how hard you have worked on your cheese board, she doesn’t drink milk, nor meat, nor… Nor will she shy away from proposing things… Let’s leave it at ‘unexpected.’
Her performance from Alcobendas is so outstanding that many consider her one of the season’s award contenders in the Best Supporting Actress category, with more chances at the Golden Globes, where categories are divided by gender and she is clearly favorite in the comedy category. Her co-star and director, Olivia Wilde, could also be among the contenders, especially for her off-camera work.
Olivia Wilde and Seth Rogen in an image from The Invitation.
And The Invitation is one of those films that feels like a theatre, everything takes place in a house, the four leads are all superb. And with its magic, without distractions, without filler, without time to waste between scene and scene, it dissects the sentimental reality of the twenty-first century. That is the one where the fear of failure paralyzes when everything—the day-to-day, the bed, the school routine, the social life—is so stained that there is no possibility of success and only remains to accept when the reality will reveal itself and be accepted. Or maybe not. I choose to believe in that piano. Because (despite the laughter) it hurts to see them hurting each other in so many different ways.
