The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 (2011)

Directed by: Bill Condon | 117 minutes | drama, thriller, romance, fantasy | Actors: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Michael Sheen, Dakota Fanning, Taylor Lautner, Anna Kendrick, Ashley Greene, Jamie Campbell Bower, Maggie Grace, Jackson Rathbone, Nikki Reed, Lee Pace, Kellan Lutz, Peter Facinelli, Billy Burke, Elizabeth Reaser Christian Serratos, Sarah Clarke, Rami Malek, MyAnna Buring, Joe Anderson, Christopher Heyerdahl, Casey LaBow, Booboo Stewart, Christian Camargo, Mía Maestro, Wendell Pierce

Since 2008 ‘The Twilight Saga’ has been the film series for teenage girls and women with a penchant for nostalgia. Full of unbelievable and illogical twists, but oh so tasty, thanks to three handsome protagonists and a lot of sugary sweet sentiment. In 2011, we have now reached the penultimate part and so it is time for a new director and a new approach. The humor and action of David Slade’s relatively guy-friendly “Eclipse” has given way to the unadulterated female drama of Bill “Dreamgirls” Condon. If you’re unfamiliar with Twilight creator Stephenie Meyer’s novel, the film’s dark undertones may surprise you. ‘Breaking Dawn’ was the most widely received of all Meyer’s books, and that could just be the case with the film.

First there is the opportunity to swoon, according to good use. After three films tossed between the well-haired vampire Edward and the muscular werewolf Jacob, Bella finally chose Edward at the end of the previous film. In ‘Breaking Dawn’ we see the wedding, and it does not disappoint. The wedding scene is a beautifully stylized, bittersweet event that Condon stretches out to half an hour, with an endearingly tense Bella, a groom in suit and gel, and some amusing speeches. Jacob is gritting his teeth in the wings, but when Bella takes a break from the party to say hello to her hot family friend, Team Jacob’s supporters also get a moment to melt away.

Then the wedding night arrives and it is time to hit the nail on the head. Bella wants to experience this important moment before being immortalized by Edward, but sex with a supernatural lover is not without risks. After a violent lovemaking – of which you get disappointingly little to see – the bridal suite is in ruins and Bella can figure in a SIRE commercial. We hadn’t expected toiling bodies given the young target group (after all, this is ‘Twilight’ and not ‘True Blood’), but a little more visual fireworks would have been in order after that long wait.

During the honeymoon, the young couple soon falls off their pink cloud. Bella turns out to be pregnant and becomes critically ill. Edward’s medically trained father Carlisle confirms what the two lovers already suspect: Bella’s body is not built to carry a supernatural child. This means that decisions have to be made about whether or not the pregnancy should be terminated. To complicate matters further, Jacob’s werewolf pack declares war on the unborn fetus. Jacob also has to make a decision: is he loyal to his tribe or is he protecting Bella?

Regular writer Melissa Rosenberg must have had a hard time turning Meyer’s packed novel into a script. The choice to cut the film into two parts is a good one, given the natural dichotomy in the book. ‘Part 1’ in turn can also be divided into two parts. The first half of the film is all about romance, in the second half the atmosphere becomes grim. While Edward and Jacob look on helplessly, the pregnant Bella decays into a living skeleton. Yet she is determined to bring her baby into the world. The birthing scene is remarkably understated, but no less gruesome for that. Condon is economical with the ketchup and knows how to depict the infernal pain through short fragments of image and sound.

It seems as if ‘Twilight’ has outgrown puberty. Bella is no longer an indecisive teenage girl, but a young woman who accepts the consequences of her choices. She displays an admirable toughness. This gives the film a tragedy that was missing in the previous parts and creates a welcome new dynamic between the characters. ‘Breaking Dawn’ presents them with tough dilemmas. What do you do when a wise decision just doesn’t feel right? To what extent do you decide everything together as a couple? And what do you do when someone you care about makes decisions you don’t support?

The film falls short in other respects. For example, there is quite a bit of talking between key scenes, culminating in an unintentionally laughable scene in which Jacob’s werewolf steering committee discusses Bella’s pregnancy. If we want to hear the thoughts of dogs, let’s watch ‘Look Who’s Talking Now’. Furthermore, the action scenes do not come out of the paint and a little more humor would not have been out of place. Despite the beauty flaws, ‘Breaking Dawn – Part 1’ is a reasonably successful prelude to the last part of the series, which promises less taciturn suffering and more spectacle. There’s still a lot to swoon over, but it looks like ‘The Twilight Saga’ is starting to mature a bit.