Gregg Araki’s White Bird in a Blizzard was met with mixed reviews back when it was released in 2014. Starring Shailene Woodley, Angela Bassett, Christopher Meloni, and Eva Green, the Sundance Film Festival Official Selection follows Kat Connors (Woodley) throughout her teenage and young adult years after her mother goes missing. While parts of the film are on the more forgettable side in this adaptation of the Laura Kasischke novel, its secret weapon is Green as Kat’s enigmatic mother Eve, who struggles with her role as a mother and housewife in the 1980s. In the midst of some awkward dialogue and constant jumping between past and present, Green pulls through with a captivating performance of a flawed and misunderstood woman as she unknowingly approaches her unfortunate end.
There are a variety of moments in which Green captivates audiences with her dramatic performance, stealing almost every scene she’s in. This is emphasized by the fact that Eve is only featured in flashbacks. Knowing that she is never discovered alive again at the beginning of the film, her presence is especially haunting, appearing ghost-like every time she is on the screen.
One of the most intriguing aspects of the film is the relationship between Eve and her daughter, Kat. Through earlier flashbacks, the audience is able to see the initial relationship between the two when Kat was a child. While there was love between them, which Kat recalls via narration, her mother treated her like a doll and a pet when she was younger. In one scene, Eve is playing a game with a young Kat (Ava Acres) and looks thrilled and youthful. This is one of the few times in which Eve is seen as happy, making this moment of bliss all the more potent, as Green’s portrayal of a wife and mother grows increasingly complex from here.
As Kat grows older, Eve becomes more critical of her daughter’s appearance, making negative comments about her weight. One scene sees Eve slapping her daughter’s hand away from eating more food, maliciously stating that Kat is getting “fatter by the hour.” This moment is the start of a complex relationship between the mother and the daughter, often including borderline abusive behavior. As Kat ages, Eva Green is eerily able to flip her tone and facial expressions. Admiration is seemingly replaced with disappointment as Green incorporates her classic deeper voice into her dialogue that is riddled with judgment.
The relationship reaches its peak of bleakness when Kat becomes a teenager. In some deeply disturbing scenes, Eve becomes fixated on her daughter’s maturing appearance. Her behavior is so invasive and alarming that it pushes her daughter to tears. Green’s performance here plants the seed in the viewers’ minds that Eve is having a difficult time with the loss of her youth, and is evidently becoming more malicious towards Kat as she grows older.
The film is particularly strong when Green is sharing the screen with the older version of Kat played by Woodley. The Casino Royale actress masterfully shifts her performance according to the specific emotional stage she is at with Eve, which continuously gives her fixation on Woodley’s character a different meaning. When Kat is a child, she is more so Eve’s accessory, a slowly simmering reminder that Eve’s youth is waning. But when Kat is a teenager, Green is able to bring nuance and sympathy to a character that has begun to treat her daughter with an uncomfortable level of disrespect. While certain scenes are difficult to watch due to Eve’s behavior, Green makes it nearly impossible to look away.
Many portrayals of women struggling with the restrictions of being a housewife have been brought to the screen. But between the twist that White Bird in a Blizzard takes and the dark atmosphere, Eva Green’s take stands out among the rest. A prominent part of the film’s story is the extremely tense relationship between Eve and her husband, Brock (Meloni). Through flashbacks, the audience learns that the more adventurous Eve settles down with Brock, who is initially portrayed as ordinary and surface-level. After years of taking on the homemaker role even before Kat was born, the bold woman seemingly loses her liveliness and becomes bitter towards everyone and everything, particularly her husband. One flashback shows the family of three sitting down at an uncomfortable dinner. When Brock asks Eve to pass him something, she shoots him a visceral look of hatred.
Throughout the film, Eve also begins to take a strange interest in Kat’s boyfriend Phil (Shiloh Fernandez), seemingly to only prove to herself that she is still desirable. During the scenes in which she is trying to capture his attention, Green is able to make the character’s actions especially jarring as the audience watches Eve grasp at straws, while also taking her negative emotions out on her family. Through the character’s increasingly odd behavior, Green reminds viewers that the character is simultaneously looking for validation and excitement, even though she is searching in all the wrong places.
The complexity of Green’s performances comes to a head when Eve, wearing high heels and a mini-skirt, invites Phil and his mother to dinner in what is arguably the most memorable scene of the film. The moment starts with the character making a dramatic entrance for Kat and Phil, who are sitting together in the basement. After asking Phil to bring his mother over for dinner, Eve dramatically kicks her heels off and begins slowly swaying and dancing to the music playing. Uncomfortable, Kat asks her mother what she’s doing and Eve says, “What’s the matter, Kat? Can’t stand seeing your mother have fun for a change?”
The tone of the scene shifts, expertly led by Green, when Brock calls from upstairs. Eve drops her arms, rolls her eyes, and grumbles, “… And the party is over before it’s even begun.” After seeing Eve, Brock asks her what she’s wearing, only to say that he doesn’t like it. From this moment on, Green gives viewers a clear idea of the character’s life. Fed up with being considered an embarrassment to her teenage daughter and stuck under the control of her husband, Eve explodes, demanding that she be able to wear whatever she wants. In a point of foreshadowing, Eve discovers the meat freezer has been unplugged and all of its contents have spoiled. Overcome with emotion, Eve tearfully storms away.
Eve’s Behavior Says More Than Words Ever Could
Eva Green as Eve in White Bird in a BlizzardImage via Magnolia Pictures
Walking the line between emotional drama and dark humor, Green’s performance says all the things the actual film does not. Since the narration is told from Kat’s perspective, it is up to Green to explore the unspoken characteristics of Eve. Viewers become claustrophobic when Green is on the screen and are able to empathize with a character that takes all of her emotions out on her young daughter, who has technically done nothing wrong.
Another unforgettable moment is when the film’s biggest plot twist unfolds, which is when Eve finds Brock in bed with Phil. After Phil flees, Eve begins to laugh at Brock with a menacing look in her eyes, even as Brock pleads with her to stop. Suddenly Brock puts his hands on her neck and begins to strangle her. Even during this, Eve continues to stare at him and laugh, right until she dies. Green makes this moment especially haunting, cackling even as her character has run out of breath.
In a film with occasional cringe-worthy dialogue and performances that generally feel two-dimensional, Green breathes life into the film as a character who isn’t even there. Her performance keeps the story afloat and gives the audience something to hold onto and remember. Understanding that the character herself just wants to feel seen, Green commands the screen in every way, ultimately making the flawed character the most memorable part of the film.
