BEFORE/DURING/AFTER: Examines Self-Discovery Through Tragedy

Before/During/After is a dramatic film exploring the life of Jennie (Finnerty Steeves), a NYC actress as she discovers who she is and what she wants from life when her marriage abruptly comes to an end after discovering her husband David (Jeremy Davidson) cheating.

Before/During/After is directed by Stephen Kunken and Jack Lewars and written by Finnerty Steeves who always portrays the film’s central character, Jennie. The film explores the importance of keeping in touch with who you are within both your career and relationships. There’s a realism to the mixture of good and bad moments throughout the depiction of Jennie and David’s marriage.

Structure and Use of Time

Before/During/After fully represents its title with the use of structure and time depicting the central relationship. By showing scenes from the beginning of Jennie and David’s relationship in combination with moments of their marriage falling apart, the marriage feels real and lived-in.

Putting the good next to the bad makes the happy moments have an air of sadness, and allows the moments of dissolution to be that much stronger because we know their relationship started in a place of happiness and joy.

Before/During/After plays with time, yet never feels confusing with the timelines of each moment. Everything comes across clearly and helps to build a complete picture of Jennie and David’s marriage.

By having an equal focus on the hardships that came from her divorce and the journey of self-discovery in the aftermath, Before/During/After paints a clear picture of Jennie as a person, and allows her to fully develop from the first moments at her wedding to the first steps into her new life.

Before/During/After gives equal importance to Jennie finding her way after her marriage ends as it gives to showing a complete depiction of the relationship, starting with the wedding night and the story of how they first met and fell in love. Time and how relationships and people change is of major importance in Before/During/After, and this comes through beautifully in the film’s structure.

Humor Found in Darkness

Before/During/After is more dramatic than funny, but it still contains some interesting comedic moments, especially in relation to Jennie and David working to save their marriage by going to therapy.

The couple attends various different therapists throughout the film. These experiences involve a male therapist talking to Jennie and David like everything is Jennie’s fault and calling her names. As to be expected, this is the therapist her husband wants to continue seeing. After attending two meetings–one therapist that Jennie would see again, one that David would see again–and there is realism in the couple going with the one her husband deems worthy.

As the film progresses, and the chosen therapist gets too crude with his comments, the couple attends another meeting, and in a more humorous scene, the therapist tells the couple she’s a theater fan and wanted to meet Jennie, but could not actually be their therapist because she’s going on a yearly theater-focused trip. This moment works to show why she’s not a good therapist but also gives more insight into how Jennie’s career might impact her life with herself and her husband.

In addition to balancing humor with more serious moments, Before/During/After also features a nice blend of more charming and joyful moments with ones shrouded in sadness. One moment that stands out shows Jennie and David’s relationship in an earlier anniversary where they pick out cards for each other, laughing at what they’ve chosen. This moment shows the love they once shared, and how different that is from their fights over who wants or doesn’t want to have children.

Framing Device and Jennie’s Journey

The film utilizes a framing device of Jennie auditioning for a play. At first, I didn’t really enjoy the device because it came too infrequently to feel as if it impacted the rest of what the film shows, but as the story progresses, this audition plays a bigger part in Jennie’s journey.

Through Jennie’s failed auditions–even though the character within the play mirrors her own life–she discovers more about herself and what she wants out of her new life.

Finnerty Steeves performance adds depth to her character and allows the audience to care for her in a personal way, as well as wanting her to find new career success. The changes in the auditions she gives for the play-within-the-film mirroring her character’s struggles showcase how talented she is as an actress. Some of her auditions only have subtle differences, but you can tell how different memories influence that particular audition, and we can see the variations of quality ranging from her worst to best auditions.

Before/During/After wonderfully balances Jennie’s hardships that seem as if they keep getting worse and worse with heartfelt moments of strength and endurance. Her triumphs are that much more exciting to withhold because we can see how much she needed to get through to achieve her dreams.

Jennie’s journey never feels too connected to only one aspect of herself and her life. She doesn’t gain worth because other men pay attention to her. She realizes her own inner strength and becomes the person she has always been, but never believed. This type of discovery feels so much more emotional than something focused only on romance or career. Finnerty Steeves wrote a fleshed-out character with goals and dreams that anyone can relate to, and portrayed her with beautiful strength.

Conclusion

Before/During/After blends a journey of self-discovery with an examination of marriage from start to the unexpected end. Finnerty Steeves does excellent work in the script–balancing the darkness of loss with the joy of discovering yourself–as well as giving a memorable performance of a woman struggling to know herself distanced from her marriage.

What are your favorite films that examine the good and bad of a marriage? Are you more interested in that aspect of Before/During/After or the story of Jennie’s journey to find herself after the end? Share your thoughts in the comments. 

Before/During/After debuts at the Greenpoint Film Festival on August 7th. 

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