Causeway (film)

Lynsey, a soldier in the United States Army Corps of Engineers during the Afghanistan War, is recovering from a traumatic brain injury. She undergoes physical therapy with a kindly professional caretaker, Sharon, and gradually regains her motor skills. Unable to afford further treatment, she is forced to return home to New Orleans.

Staying in her childhood home with her unreliable mother Gloria, Lynsey finds a job cleaning pools. When the truck once belonging to her brother breaks down, she finds help from James, an auto mechanic. Struggling to adjust to daily life and her new medications, she explains to her doctor that she was injured by an IED in Afghanistan, but is determined to return to duty.

Lynsey and James become unlikely friends, and after he helps her avoid unwanted advances at a bar, she reveals that she is a lesbian. He confides in her about losing his leg in a car crash on the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, and she opens up about her unhappy memories of home, including her brother Justin's problems with drugs. James drunkenly invites her to move in with him, in the house he used to share with his sister and her son.

Despite her mother's objections, Lynsey commits herself to qualifying for redeployment, and finds herself swimming in an out-of-town client's pool. She continues to spend time with James, bonding over sno-balls and their shared physical and mental trauma. Her doctor fears the impact of her injury on her mental health, warning of the strong link between trauma and her depression.

When Lynsey convinces James to join her in the pool, he reveals that he was driving when the car crashed; his nephew was killed, leaving him estranged from his sister. Comforting James, Lynsey impulsively kisses him. Embarrassed, she declares that she was acting out of pity, leading to an argument about the things they have kept from each other, and James ends their friendship.

Lynsey's doctor reluctantly agrees to sign her redeployment waiver. She is unable to reach James, but discovers he had the truck repaired for free, and is inspired to reconnect with Justin, visiting him in prison. Changing her mind about leaving, she is able to bring herself to clean her mother's own disused pool, and to swim at a public pool. She visits James and urges him to ask her to move in again, hoping to make amends with her friend.

• Jennifer Lawrence as Lynsey
• Brian Tyree Henry as James Aucoin
• Linda Emond as Gloria, Lynsey's mother
• Jayne Houdyshell as Sharon, a caretaker
• Stephen McKinley Henderson as Dr. Lucas
• Russell Harvard as Justin, Lynsey's brother
• Sean Carvajal as Santiago, a mechanic
• Fred Weller as Rick, the pool cleaner boss
• Neal Huff as Neuropsychologist

In April 2019, it was announced Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry had joined the cast of an untitled drama film, with Lila Neugebauer directing from a screenplay by Elizabeth Sanders. Lawrence, Justine Polsky, Eli Bush and Scott Rudin initially served as producers under their Excellent Cadaver and IAC Films banners, respectively, and A24 distributed it.^[4][5]

Production began in the summer of 2019 in New Orleans, but was delayed due to Hurricane Barry. Production restarted in March 2020, but was once again delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was completed in the summer of 2021.^[6] Lawrence and Henry continued to workshop the script together during the pandemic as a result of their chemistry and to further enrich it as their scenes were seen as the most compelling of the film.^[2]

In April 2021, following allegations of abuse, Scott Rudin stepped back as a producer from the project.^[7] On December 30, 2021, the Writers Guild of America awarded final screenplay credit for the film to both Sanders and the team of Ottessa Moshfegh and Luke Goebel.^[8]

In July 2022, it was announced Apple TV+ would distribute the film.^[9][10] The film had its world premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2022.^[11] The European premiere was held on October 8, 2022, at the BFI London Film Festival.^[12] It had a limited theatrical release on October 28, 2022,^[13] and was released on Apple TV+ on November 4, 2022.^[14]

Critical response

Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry garnered critical acclaim for their performances, earning the latter an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 85% of 168 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The website's consensus reads: "Causeway takes a powerfully subdued look at the lingering effects of trauma, led by gripping performances from Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry."^[15] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 66 out of 100, based on 39 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.^[16]

Wendy Ide of The Observer awarded 4 stars out of 5, praised the film and wrote " this is a subdued, sensitive drama and Lawrence is phenomenal, giving the kind of wary, reined-in performance that made such a compelling impression in her breakthrough film, Winter’s Bone."^[17] In a B+ review for Consequence, Mary Siroky wrote: "while one of the few downsides of Causeway is the lingering desire to spend more time with these characters, the film holds an excellent return to form for Jennifer Lawrence and makes a stellar case for many more leading man roles for Brian Tyree Henry," further praising Lawrence's performance as "gripping" in comparison to her work in Winter's Bone and that Henry "is so grounded here that there are moments we feel like we are intruding into his life."^[18] Anna Smith for Time Out gave it 4 out of 5 stars review and wrote: "both actors are terrific: Lawrence is understated and compelling while Henry is by turns sympathetic, amusing and heartbreaking...Causeway will offer plenty for fans of thoughtful, quality dramas that touch on humanity, trauma, connection and the kindness of strangers."^[19]

In a review for The Austin Chronicle, Jenny Nulf wrote: "Watching Jennifer Lawrence in a film that allows her to showcase her skills at full force after so many years without her is a welcome reminder that she’s one of our greatest living actresses [...] Lawrence and Henry do an incredible job at dancing around each other, soft smiles to communicate their pain and hardships without relying on overwritten exposition. Director Lila Neugebauer (best known in the theatre space, but who also worked on the critically acclaimed series Maid) manages to keep the tone understated, focusing on the nuances of Lawrence and Henry’s performances that carry the weight of the heavy script."^[20] Adam White, giving the film 4 out of 5 stars in a review for The Independent, praised Lawrence's performance as "brilliant" (stating it as a reminder of previous acclaimed naturalistic work) and that "Henry lends each hushed gap in James’s tale the feel of a sledgehammer."^[21]