Not all religion has an embedded patriarchal hegemony, but those that do have had it in place for so long that not only does it remain to this day, but it can have such an influence that to be considered a “true believer” as a woman means to accept it and take a subservient role within the church. Vera Farmiga’s freshman directorial effort, Higher Ground, looks at the life of a strong woman whom, after rejoining a strongly fundamental sect of Christianity with her husband and raising a family within it, finds herself chafing beneath the condescending approach it takes towards women. Her resentment gradually festers and her conviction to her faith wavers. Explorations of faith within film can be preachy by the very merit of its subject matter, but Farmiga approaches the story with a delicate touch and from a multitude of angles that flesh out the characters and story to more than just a simple parable.
Many people have the religion of their parents thrust upon them at an early age, but thanks to a fair amount of tragedy striking her parents’ lives and their marriage, Corrine (Vera Farmiga) had the chance to break out on her own with her musician boyfriend Ethan (Joshua Leonard). As teens are wont to do, Corinne and Ethan have sex and are graced with an unexpected bundle of joy which keeps them together and eventually pulls them back to their faith. Moving back to the confines of a fundamental Christian camp, the two settle in to raise their kids, but their respective faiths take wildly different paths. Ethan fully embraces the borderline misogynistic belief system whereas Corinne finds the Church suffocating. When the two finally clash over how they view the church, Corinne’s attempts to discover who she truly is have the opportunity to find a voice.
Farmiga’s Higher Ground is a time capsule of the 70s. Seldom do modern films feel as authentic an article of a time past as Higher Ground does, but everything--from the costumes, to the sets, to the performances--is spot on. It’s a slow-churning family drama that never ceases to engross in the audience in Corinne’s fight for her own identity and Ethan’s attempt to cling desperately to the only support structure he’s known since he was a teenager. Higher Ground manages to achieve so much, and it makes it look incredibly easy.
So much of Higher Ground hinges on Vera Farmiga’s ability to convey slight nuances from one moment to the next: spite for her husband’s new mindset, love for the time they’ve spent together, and simmering hatred for the husband of her best friend who treats his wife like a mindless pet after a brain tumor takes away her individuality. Farmiga has long since proven herself a capable actress across a variety of genres, and here she has a formidable role that only cements her status as an underappreciated star. Corinne’s exploration of her long suppressed independence, both of will and thought, drive all the drama from the second act onward, and Vera finds a fitting co-star in Joshua Leonard.
Leonard has slowly risen to fame as a capable actor in independent dramas, and most of that progress has come in roles of a melancholy man battling with the changes no one told him came on in a person’s 30s and 40s. He repeats that opposite of Farmiga, and perhaps it says something of his co-stars from previous films, but in Higher Ground the performance has infinitely more intensity thanks to how well he plays a subdued male who hasn’t had to assert himself to achieve authority thanks to his religion handing it to him on a golden platter. Leonard is a superb dramatic actor and Higher Ground is a great demonstration of his talent.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
An audio commentary with Farmiga, Leonard and Renn Hawkey take top honors as the set’s best extra, and the deleted scenes, and making-of featurette prove to be padding more than anything else. An unexpected piece of fun is an outtake reel, which you wouldn’t think to find on a movie as serious as this, but then again, it’s about 30 seconds long.
"Higher Ground" is on sale January 10, 2012 and is rated R. Drama. Directed by Vera Farmiga. Written by Carolyn S. Briggs, Tim Metcalfe. Starring Dagmara Dominczyk, John Hawkes, Joshua Leonard, Vera Farmiga.
