Dark Waters

UK Release Date. 28 February 2020
Certification. 12A
Running Time. 2 hours 6 mins
Director. Todd Haynes
Cast. Bill Camp, Victor Garber, Anne Hathaway, Bill Pullman, Tim Robbins, Mark Ruffalo.
Rating. 64%

Review.

Based on an article - 'The lawyer who became DuPont's worst nightmare' published in The New York Times Magazine in January 2016 - Dark Waters documents the remarkable story of Rob Bilott (Mark Ruffalo), a corporate defence attorney who risked it all by taking on an environmental lawsuit against one of the world's most powerful chemical companies, DuPont. 

The film recounts the horrifying discovery that the chemical company, DuPont had, for decades, been hiding its use (and disposal) of PFOA, a synthetic chemical now proven to be carcinogenic. According the film's end credits, PFOA (a member of the so-called 'forever chemicals' family) is now thought to be present in the bloodstream of 99 per cent of Americans. Thankfully, for the vast majority of them, it’s at too low a level to bring harm.  

Although the film is in the tradition of such legal activist dramas as The Rainmaker, A Civil Action, The Insider, Erin Brockovich and Worth, there’s very little traditional about Dark Waters.  

Directed by Todd Haynes, an intimate director with a perchance for lush melodramas such as Far From Heaven, Carol and May December, Haynes treats Dark Waters as if it were a horror film or psychological thriller. The director steadily escalates tension as Bilott dives further and further into DuPont’s dark secrets, and Haynes' long-time cinematographer Ed Lachman, who brought beauty and life to so many of Haynes’ other films, paints Dark Waters in sickly shades of yellow and green. In stark contrast, Wilbur Tennant’s (Bill Camp) farm is drained of colour to produce an environment shrouded in death, decay and putrid smells. 

Dark Waters isn’t entirely out of kilter with Haynes' back catalogue, as its themes are remarkably similar to those in his 1995 film Safe. Themes of paranoia and isolation match the experience of the housewife, Carol (Julianne Moore), the main character in Safe, who develops severe reactions to ordinary household chemicals.    

As Bilott exposes DuPont’s long history of deliberate pollution, his personal and professional life begin to spiral out of control. Yet he presses on. Ruffalo’s reserved charm and Bilott's quiet determination keep the drama grounded. 

Anne Hathaway is cast as Bilott’s wife, Sarah. An all too familiar role - the 'concerned wife' who continues to huff and puff about her husband and his work, yet intermittently berates Bilott for his dedication to the job. Haynes is far from alone in failing to address this recurrent stereotypical character - demanding, nagging, yet ultimately loving. But every time Bilott returns home it feels like a waste of valuable storytelling time, a domestic distraction which only perpetrates the idea that men do the important work, while women — Erin Brockovich notwithstanding — impatiently tap their feet at the front door.

The story here, of course, is about Bilott’s long running battle with DuPont and sadly, as the years pass by, the film slowly slips into turgidity, even banality. Dark Waters is unsettling, a film that may leave you more outraged than inspired.