‘The Novice’ (2021) Review: Obsessive Endurance Leads to Self-Destruction
Lauren Hadaway’s The Novice tells the story of Alex Dall (Isabelle Fuhrman), who embarks on an obsessive physical journey to make it to the top varsity boat team. Alex is ambitious and driven with the determination to sacrifice and eliminate any obstacle in the way to achieve her goal. This movie bears similarities to Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash and Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, both films which focus on the compulsive need to be great and at the end, the protagonist is rewarded for their self-destruction. However, The Novice spins the genre by accomplishing the opposite of what its predecessor has done as a gripping movie that explores the life of a young girl committed to rising to the top of her game at whatever costs.
Alex is a freshman at her college and a Presidential Scholar, who graduated at the top of her class in high school before taking on her next challenge: the rowing team. She juggles between her exams by thoroughly checking the answers until the allocated time is over and rowing classes, where she is persistent to find a strategy to become the fastest and best on the team. Alex understands those achievements do not come easy for her and she’s got to where she is now through hard work, and not brilliance. Nevertheless, everything comes at a cost. Alex goes down the path of self-destruction that costs her only friend, her relationship with her girlfriend as well as her physical and mental health.
In the first 20 minutes of the movie, Alex chants “legs, bodies, arms,” a lesson her coach shares with the team when they initially start practising. She takes the training drills as a mathematical equation, filling her notebook with numbers and the duration of each set. She compares the time with her friend turned rival Jamie Brill (Alex Forsyth), also determined to get a full-ride scholarship. “Remember your competition” is written on the bottom of the mirror in their workout room and Alex takes this literally.
What sets The Novice apart from Whiplash and Black Swan is that the students in those movies were dedicated to their craft. Their goal was to become the best, despite those characters’ self-destructive behaviour that leads them to physical and mental deterioration. In addition to that, they are recognized by their peers and teachers, and later, rewarded for it. Even if it destroyed them, they proved time and time again they have what it takes to continue their passions. There is no exact reason why Alex decides to take on this challenge and despite her full-ride scholarship to college, she needs to be the best. Alex doesn’t love rowing. She likes it. Perhaps she felt threatened by Jamie, who is the best on the team. In spite of her friends reminding her of what happened in high school and her efforts to achieve the scholarship, she is driven to get that coveted spot on the team. Once she sets her target, there is nothing that can stop her.
Fuhrman, who is best known for her character in Orphan, is fantastic and brings one of the most chilling and compelling performances of the year. She is immersed and dedicated in the role and instead of showing the stakes of her goal, the audience feels it too. Fuhrman shows her character’s brutal work ethic and the length she goes through at the cost of hurting her body. Hadaway trusts her story, and most of all in Furhman, as she sweats and bleeds to perfect her craft.
The Novice is an intense drama that explores the psychological depths that humans can take to perfect their skills. It’s uncomfortable, terrifying, and even more so, relatable as a coming-of-age story that deals with the anxieties of college achievements. Visually, the movie is breathtaking with dreamlike sequences of slow-motion and close-up shots of Alex, as she trains and sweats until she is tired. She shows how utterly hardworking she is, and even if these skills don’t come naturally, she will do her best to achieve them. The Novice isn’t just a sports movie; it’s a character study about a remarkable student who learns the painful truth of endurance and how we are our worst enemy.
Edited by: Raayaa Imthiyaz
