THE MOUNTAIN: An Odyssey Of Discomfort

Rick Alverson has cultivated a career as a challenging filmmaker. The helmer behind 2012’s The Comedy and 2015’s Entertainment, he is known for ratcheting the discomfort up to unbearable levels, keeping his audience continually at unease. Alverson’s work is glacial, uncompromising, and has a particular tendency to center on toxic individuals whose lives are caught in a perpetual tailspin.

While his aforementioned films have starred notable funnymen like Tim Heidecker and Gregg Turkington, there’s very little actual funny business in Avlerson’s filmography. In fact, his films are essentially the antithesis of comfort food cinema; his work is more akin to a wet, soggy blanket, wrapped uncomfortably around your person in an uninsulated cabin during the dead of winter. Which is not to say his films aren’t also interesting. Alverson may have a knack for making his viewers feel like they’re on the cusp of breaking out in hives, but there’s such a beauty and singular strangeness to his work that is often punctuated by moments of poignancy. His work can be as rewarding as it is agonizing.

His latest film, The Mountain, is his most unusual creation yet, but it’s also his most accessible. At once a period piece and a coming-of-age odyssey wrapped around a bizarre narrative about an antiquated medical treatment, The Mountain is Alverson’s finest film. It is gorgeously constructed and held up by a pair of fine performances which are complimented by genuinely touching moments. After all, who else but Alverson could craft a story about a traveling doctor who performs lobotomies and make it so oddly affecting?

In a Lonely Place

Set in the 1950’s, The Mountain follows Andy (Tye Sheridan), a young man who leads a spectacularly unfulfilling life. Employed at the local ice rink in his quiet town that is managed by his father, Frederick (Udo Kier), Andy dutifully works his daily tasks of operating the Zamboni, shoveling frost off the rink, and sharpening the rental skates. He shares an icy and distant relationship with his father, as cold and inhospitable as their place of business. The relationship is hampered by the absence of Andy’s mother, who had left the pair several years prior.

When Frederick suddenly passes away one day, Andy finds himself adrift. Into his life enters Dr. Wallace “Wally” Fiennes (Jeff Goldblum), a seemingly kindly man who claims to have known Andy’s parents. Sensing the young man’s loneliness, Wally takes Andy under his wing as an assistant. Together, the pair travel from hospital to hospital across the country, where Wally performs lobotomies on patients that are beyond help, while Andy dutifully documents the good doctor’s procedures. As their journey progresses, the experience begins to take a toll on Andy, whose relationship with Wally becomes increasingly frayed by the latter’s excessive drinking and womanizing.

Shot in the 1.37 to 1 Academy aspect ratio, Alverson takes special care in preserving the period look of The Mountain. Color has been leeched out almost entirely; the palette is a sickly mix of browns and greys as if we are studying a series of old photographs that have been developed from Andy’s camera. Alverson has always demonstrated an intriguing sense of visual style in his previous films, but The Mountain is easily his most gorgeous-looking effort to date, as beautifully lensed as it is meticulously crafted. The film’s stunning cinematography is almost worth the price of admission alone.

Staring into the Abyss

Andy and Wally’s journey comprises the bulk of The Mountain, finding the pair encountering patients, young and old, at a series of mental institutions, wherein they are summarily lobotomized. For Wally, he views his acts as charitable, describing his process as “helping people,” a means to finding a sense of relief in a cruel world that has forgotten them. There’s a dark undercurrent to the doctor’s work as well; his body and mind are slowly deteriorating with a steady supply of booze and women, as he faces an era where his work will soon become obsolete in the medical field (The lobotomies themselves are never explicitly detailed; in fact, one instance of a botched operation is extremely effective in how little we actually see).

Matters are more complicated with Andy. When we’re introduced to him, his relationship with his father can be measured by distance. Plagued by vivid (and beautifully choreographed) dreams of ice skaters and haunted by memories of his mother, Andy reluctantly accompanies Wally, witnessing the doctor’s self-destruction firsthand as he struggles to find meaning in his own life. The relationship between the two becomes further strained when it’s implied Wally may have had a hand in lobotomizing Andy’s mother.

The two lead performances are excellent, carrying the film to success. Sheridan utilizes his innate blandness efficiently, channeling the inner turmoil of Andy through a pained stare of dead eyes. And Goldblum is just superb, eschewing any sense quirk or self-awareness to deliver one of the more gentle, nuanced, and finer performances in the actor’s career. Much like Alverson’s previous films, the marketing for The Mountain is sold on Goldblum’s presence, but be forewarned: this is not a “Jeff Goldblum Movie.”

The Mountain: Conclusion

 The final act of The Mountain stretches towards its conclusion, with the pair eventually encountering Jack (a frequently inebriated Denis Lavant), who has requested the aid of Wally’s procedure on his daughter, Susan (Hannah Gross), after all hospitals have rejected him. Susan ends up becoming a key figure in Andy’s life, capable of unlocking the meaning behind his psychological torment, but Alverson jettisons this idea, letting the picture flame out instead of reach a natural boiling point, sending Andy on one final quest (the title of the film refers to a vague notion of enlightenment).

The Mountain is an unusual feature, but it benefits from Alverson’s keen visual eye and the two strong performances from Sheridan and Goldblum. The director’s unsparing style will not convert any non-believers, but for those that have ventured into his films before, you will find The Mountain to be his most accessible and rewarding film yet.

What do you think? Does The Mountain stand as a secret success from director Rick Alverson?

Watch The Mountain