''Causeway'' is a 2022 American

psychological drama Psychological drama or psychodrama is a sub-genre of drama that places emphasis on psychological elements. It often overlaps with other genres such as crime, fantasy, black comedy, and science fiction, and it is closely related with the psychologic ...

film directed by Lila Neugebauer from a screenplay by

Ottessa Moshfegh Ottessa Charlotte Moshfegh (; born May 20, 1981) is an American author and novelist. Her debut novel, ''Eileen'' (2015), won the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and was a fiction finalist for the National Boo ...

, Luke Goebel, and Elizabeth Sanders. The film stars Jennifer Lawrence,

Brian Tyree Henry Brian Tyree Henry (born March 31, 1982) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Alfred "Paper Boi" Miles in the FX comedy-drama series ''Atlanta'' (2016–2022), for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outsta ...

Linda Emond Linda may refer to: As a name * Linda (given name), a female given name (including a list of people and fictional characters so named) * Linda (singer) (born 1977), stage name of Svetlana Geiman, a Russian singer * Anita Linda (born Alice Lake ...

Jayne Houdyshell Jayne Houdyshell (born September 25, 1953) is an American, Tony-winning actress known for her performances on stage and screen. Houdyshell made her Broadway debut in the 2005 production of ''It's a Wonderful Life''. The following year she earn ...

, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and

Russell Harvard Russell Wayne Harvard (born April 16, 1981) is an American actor. He made his feature film debut in Paul Thomas Anderson's ''There Will Be Blood'' (2007), playing opposite Daniel Day-Lewis as his adopted son, H.W. Plainview. In the 2010 biopic '' ...

. ''Causeway'' had its world premiere at the

2022 Toronto International Film Festival The 2022 Toronto International Film Festival, the 47th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, is scheduled to be held from September 8 to 18, 2022. Festival organizers have indicated that the 2022 festival will be staged primar ...

on September 10, 2022, and was released in select cinemas on October 28, 2022, before it's streaming release on November 4, 2022, by

Apple TV+ Apple TV is a digital media player and microconsole developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is a small network appliance hardware that plays received media data such as video and audio to a television set or external display. Since its secon ...

. The film has received positive reviews, with critics praising Lawrence and Henry's performances.

Plot

Lynsey, a U.S. soldier, experiences a

traumatic brain injury A traumatic brain injury (TBI), also known as an intracranial injury, is an injury to the brain caused by an external force. TBI can be classified based on severity (ranging from mild traumatic brain injury TBI/concussionto severe traumatic br ...

after an IED explosion during her tour in Afghanistan which forces her to return home in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

. She struggles to return to her daily life with her mother as she waits for her wish to return for redeployment. Her doctor is reluctant to sign her waiver to return as he feels that trauma is a strong link to her depression. As she improves with rehabilitation, she becomes unlikely friends with James, an auto mechanic, who also has physical and mental trauma after a car accident in which his nephew was killed on the 24 mile long

Lake Pontchartrain Causeway The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway (french: Chaussée du lac Pontchartrain), also known simply as The Causeway, is a fixed link composed of two parallel bridges crossing Lake Pontchartrain in southeastern Louisiana, United States. The longer of th ...

. Causeway, the title of the movie, is a metaphor for the journeys in the film as it may be "terrifying to drive across when you're on it, you can't see".

Cast

* Jennifer Lawrence as Lynsey *

as James Aucoin *

as Gloria *

as Sharon * Stephen McKinley Henderson as Dr. Lucas *

as Justin * Sean Carvajal as Santiago *

Fred Weller Frederick Weller (born April 18, 1966) is an American actor known for portraying Johnny Sandowski on ''Missing Persons,'' Shane Mungitt in '' Take Me Out'' and Marshall Mann on ''In Plain Sight''. Early life Weller was born in New Orleans, Lou ...

as Rick * Will Pullen as Bro *

Neal Huff Neal Huff is an American actor from New York City. In April 2018, he performed as Willie Oban in the Broadway revival of ''The Iceman Cometh''. In December 2018, Huff began performing in ''To Kill a Mockingbird'', adapted for stage by Aaron Sor ...

as Neuropsychologist * Joshua Hull as Security Contractor

Production

In April 2019, it was announced Jennifer Lawrence and

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 Scott Rudin (born July 14, 1958) is an American film, television, and theatre producer. His films include the Academy Award-winning Best Picture ''No Country for Old Men,'' as well as '' Uncut Gems'', '' Lady Bird, Fences, The Girl with the Drag ...

would serve as producers under their

Excellent Cadaver Excellent Cadaver is an American film and television production company founded by actress Jennifer Lawrence. History In 2018, Excellent Cadaver was founded by actress Jennifer Lawrence. Lawrence will produce with her producing partner, Justi ...

and IAC Films banners, respectively, while

A24 A24 is an American independent entertainment company that specializes in film and television production, as well as film distribution. It is based in New York City. A24 was founded in 2012 by Daniel Katz, David Fenkel and John Hodges. Pr ...

would distribute. 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 The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

and was completed in the summer of 2021. In April 2021, following allegations of abuse,

stepped back as a producer from the project. On December 30, 2021, the WGA awarded final screenplay credit for the film to both Sanders and the team of

and Luke Goebel.

Release

In July 2022, it was announced

would distribute the film. The film had its world premiere at the

on September 10, 2022. The European premiere was held on October 8, 2022, at the BFI London Film Festival. It had a

limited theatrical release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

on October 28, 2022, and was released on Apple TV+ on November 4, 2022.

Reception

On the review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 86% based on 148 reviews reviews, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The website's critics 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." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which uses a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

, the film has a score of 66 out of 100, based on 37 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Wendy Ide of

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

awarded 4 stars out of 5, praised the film and said " 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''." In a B+ review for

Consequence Consequence may refer to: * Logical consequence, also known as a ''consequence relation'', or ''entailment'' * In operant conditioning, a result of some behavior * Consequentialism, a theory in philosophy in which the morality of an act is determi ...

, 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." Anna Smith for Time Out in a 4 out of 5 stars review 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."

Accolades

References

External links

* {{Apple TV+ American war drama films Films about veterans Films about post-traumatic stress disorder Films shot in New Orleans A24 (company) films Apple TV+ original films 2022 directorial debut films 2022 independent films 2020s American films Films scored by Alex Somers