J.Edgar (2011)

Directed by: Clint Eastwood | 137 minutes | biography, drama | Actors: Leonardo DiCaprio, Naomi Watts, Armie Hammer, Dermot Mulroney, Ed Westwick, Josh Lucas, Lea Thompson, Judi Dench, Stephen Root, Jeffrey Donovan, Kaitlyn Dever, Amanda Schull, Kevin Rankin, Ryan McPartlin, Geoff Pierson, Miles Fisher, Michael Gladis, Emily Alyn Lind, Christopher Shyer, Gunner Wright

Just when J. Edgar Hoover (Leonardo DiCaprio) has gathered enough courage to gently reveal that he doesn’t find girls that interesting, his mother (Judi Dench) comes up with a story about a sensitive boy, jokingly referred to as ‘Daffodil’ (daffodil), who committed suicide after coming out. “I’d rather have a dead son than a daffodil,” she hisses at him sharply. “Yes mother,” Edgar replies timidly. His courage suddenly failed him. It’s Hoover as a mother’s child at its best, one of the strongest scenes from ‘J. Edgar’ (2011), Clint Eastwood’s ambitious biopic about the man who headed the FBI for nearly 50 years. Five decades don’t just pop into a 137-minute movie, especially if your protagonist is such a grotesque figure like Hoover, so information had to be selective. Unfortunately, Eastwood and screenwriter Dustin Lance Black (who won an Oscar for ‘Milk’, 2008) didn’t always make the right choices.

Hoover’s personality is far too complex to explain in two hours. The man loved secrets. Especially others’—he kept an obsessive and close watch on America’s most powerful citizens, whether they had something to hide or not—but he kept his own private life a secret. After his death in 1972, it was speculated that he had been in a secret relationship with his second husband, Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer), for years, but never dared to admit his homosexuality. Eastwood recreates Hoover’s life from 1919, when, as a 24-year-old, he sees for himself how anarchists strike and set his boss’s house at the Justice Department on fire. From then on, he is determined to make his country safer and protect its citizens. His Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) isn’t immediately taken seriously, but when he solves the kidnapping case of Charles Lindbergh Jr., the baby of aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh (Josh Lucas), his star is on the rise. The nice thing is that Eastwood lets the older Hoover himself tell his story to young employees of the agency, who get to work out his memoirs. Hoover feels his end approaching and wants his story on paper soon. But Hoover as an omniscient narrator is not always reliable, as we learn.

Neither do Eastwood and Black, by the way, because they omit crucial information from Hoover’s life, information that helps the viewer see what double standards he used. For example, we see him pick up some mafia figures, but it is not told what dubious role Hoover himself played in the whole story (he never took organized crime seriously and there are stories that he may have been bribed). His role in Joseph McCarthy’s witch hunt for communists in the early 1950s is also downplayed. Instead, the film focuses on his own inner struggle around his sexuality. The result is a fascinating portrait of a man who converts the frustrations from his private life into obsessive behavior at work. His relationship with Clyde Tolson – well played by Armie Hammer – is a fascinating one. It’s clear from the start that the two are more than just friends. They also go on weekend trips together and to the horse races, but Hoover has never dared to admit to himself that they are in a relationship, partly under pressure from his now deceased mother. He always keeps a blow to his arm and keeps telling himself that he should get married again. To the frustration of Tolson, who quite rightly assumes that Hoover chooses him. When his frustration erupts, it produces one of the best scenes in the film. Had Eastwood confined himself to Hoover’s private life, the film would have been more powerful. But because he also wants to show the ‘career man’ Hoover, it becomes a cluttered whole. Jumping in time doesn’t make it any clearer.

Leonardo DiCaprio may not be the most obvious actor to play J. Edgar Hoover, but his transformation from idealistic youth to frustrated monster is better and more believable here than in ‘The Aviator’ (2004). DiCaprio has clearly grown as an actor, although you may wonder if it wouldn’t have been better if the old Hoover was played by another (older) actor. The make-up isn’t the best aspect of the film (although, compared to Hammer and Naomi Watts, who plays his loyal secretary Helen Gandy, DiCaprio still comes out the best). The acting of the entire cast is quite decent, with DiCaprio and Dench being the standouts. Unfortunately they can’t help that ‘J. Edgar’ is somewhat disappointing. Eastwood takes just too much on his fork and ultimately fails to deliver on the promise. The life of J. Edgar Hoover is so complex that a miniseries might have been more appropriate. In trying to tell so many aspects of his life, the film loses focus. Although the ambitions that Clint Eastwood brings to light here are of course to be praised. ‘J. Edgar’ is great, but unfortunately just not compelling enough.