Sometimes, a screenplay is more about the characters than the story it tells. Sometimes, the story is there to serve as a vehicle or a mechanism for allowing the characters to experience the growth they need to experience. Sometimes, the inner journey a character experiences in a screenplay is more important than the external journey they go on. Such is the case with A Real Pain.
Internal and external journeys
The nice thing about Jesse Eisenberg’s screenplay is that we’re taking three simultaneous journeys over the course of the story. We’re taking the external journey with David (Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) as they visit their ancestral Poland to learn about the ordeal their grandmother experienced at the hands of the Nazis. We’re also taking two internal journeys, one each with David and Benji, as they confront the pain that each of them carries. Benji openly expresses his pain and allows others to know what he’s feeling when he’s feeling it. David, on the other hand, is painfully introverted and struggles to maintain the appearance of a man who has his life together and is living life the way it should be lived.
The purpose of the external journey in A Real Pain is to motivate the growth each character experiences on their internal journeys. This script is loaded with dialogue, but the dialogue is layered with subtext. Eisenberg wields dialogue like weaponry in this script. Benji uses words as verbal daggers to cut the other characters to the quick, causing them to feel discomfort and pain when he does it, but on reflection, realizing that what he said makes sense, and they’ll use his words to make their lives better. At the same time, Benji lights up any room he walks into, and the ease with which he can open up to people and have them open up to him perplexes and frustrates David, who believes he’ll be better liked if he’s quiet and polite.
The juxtaposition between David and Benji couldn’t be starker.
David may be the character the other characters like. However, Benji is the character the other characters respect. The pain that both characters feel drives their personalities, and it’s impossible to know by the end which of them is in a better place internally. It’s clear that David is in a better external position, but is he happier? The screenwriter allows us to answer that question for ourselves.
Another thing to love about the script is that it produced a tight 90-minute movie. In a world of Brutalists, we need more Real Pains. Eisenberg, who also directed the film, gave us a complete Hero’s Journey for all the internal and external journeys in the script in a way that was subtle, emotional, and riveting.
Act 1:
Ordinary World – This is very much get-to-know-you exposition. Benji is a laid-back slacker who can talk to and get along with anyone, but it’s clear that something about him isn’t right. David is a stressed-out Type A personality who has his shit together but is unapproachable and on antidepressants. They clearly care about each other, but they’re both self-absorbed in their own way. They meet up at the airport and fly to Poland.
Call to Adventure – They meet the other members of their group. Everyone relates to Benji despite how uncomfortable his antics make David. We see how affected Benji is by his grandmother’s death. The tour they signed up for shows the history of Jewish people of the region and culminates with a trip to the local concentration camp. James, the tour guide, mentions this will be a tour about pain but it celebrates the most resilient people. This is a great use of foreshadowing and subtext.
Refusal – Benji doesn’t conform to the standards of the tour and poses for whacky photos in front of a solemn statue. While everyone else loves this, David hates it.
Meeting the Mentor – Benji acts as an archetypal mentor to David when he tells David he’s a good guy stuck in the body of someone who’s always late and always stressed.
Act 2
Crossing the First Threshold – They get on a train or the next leg of the tour.
Tests Allies and Enemies – Benji doesn’t feel right about traveling 1st class when their ancestors were herded into trains like cattle, causing him to have his first real freak out. He goes to the back of the train, and David follows him. Benji says people just aren’t supposed to be happy all the time. He’s in touch with his emotions in a way that David is not. David falls asleep, and they miss their stop. David is frustrated with Benji at first for not waking him up, but then he feels a sense of excitement as they avoid the conductor on the train back. They end up in first clas,s but Benji says they earned it this time.
They get to Lubelin and learn about its history. Marcia (Jennifer Grey) tells Benji she appreciates what he said about suffering. Eloge (Kurt Egyiawan) agrees. David doesn’t think thinking about suffering all the time helps, but the others chastise him for feeling that way, stating the only way to overcome pain is to confront it.
Approach – They cross the Jewish gate into the ghetto and see places that used to be in places but aren’t anymore. They get to the cemetery that has the oldest tombstones in Poland. Benji freaks out on James and asks him to tone it down. Benji feels like now is the time for quiet reflection, and James is pedantically explaining every bit of minutia. Benji just wants to peacefully meditate over it and empathize with the people who went through this and still live in the area. David is horrified by Benji’s behavior.
Supreme Ordeal – Dinner at the restaurant. Benji has a moment and excuses himself rudely. David apologizes for Benji’s behavior and rants about the problem that is Benji. He confesses that Benji tried to kill himself before they hear Benji playing the bar piano. Everyone in the group is mesmerized by Benji, and David can’t take it anymore and leaves for the hotel.
Reward – David tries to FaceTime with his wife, but she doesn’t answer. He goes to sleep. Benji comes in and leaves and David can’t find him. He waits in the hotel until Benji calls him the next morning, saying everyone is waiting for him.
Act 3
The Road Back – They tour the concentration camp, and it emotionally overwhelms Benji. They return to the hotel and the group says goodbye to the guys since they’re leaving the tour to go see grandma’s house. James gives Benji a heartfelt goodbye that ends with a hug before giving a curt and abrupt goodbye to David.
Resurrection – Benji and David tour the city and smoke a joint on the top of a hotel. They discuss plans for when they get back. David wants to know that Benji has a plan, but he’s coy and talks about how emotional David used to be. David talks about how he had to grow up and how needy Benji is. David confesses how upset he is with Benji’s suicide attempt and how frustrating it is that Benji can act as free as he wants and can light up any room, but he just can’t be that way.
They find their grandmother’s house the next day. Benji tells a story about when she slapped him in a restaurant and how it was the best thing that ever happened to him because it proved she cared more about him than how she looked like in public. David wants to put a stone on the stoop to commemorate her. It’s a sensitive moment between the two of them, but a neighbor complains that the lady living there currently might trip, so they must pick them up. Even that is thwarted.
Return with the Elixir – They fly back to New York. David goes home to his family, but Benji stays in the airport, clearly homeless and with nowhere else to go. And yet, he smiles.
A Real Pain is not a movie that’s going to blow you away with action and excitement. But it will make you feel many different emotions. There’s a lot of dialogue, but it’s still a visual story. It’s also deep. As the title suggests, it’s about pain and how we deal with that pain, and how the most uncomfortable way to deal with pain is often the most effective way to deal with it. Too many people suppress their pain for whatever reason, but mostly over embarrassment or not wanting to make others uncomfortable. This movie and this screenplay tell us to rethink that idea.
Click here to see my overall review of A Real Pain.