{"id":913281,"date":"2026-09-28T21:32:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T21:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/913281\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T21:32:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T21:32:11","slug":"in-werner-herzogs-bucking-fastard-two-can-be-as-lonely-as-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/913281\/","title":{"rendered":"In Werner Herzog\u2019s “Bucking Fastard,” two can be as lonely as one"},"content":{"rendered":"

When prolific filmmaker Werner Herzog<\/a> first met the Chaplin twins, Freda and Greta, the internet as we know it did not exist. If it had, it\u2019s likely that the mystifying story of these sisters \u2014 who had a brief flash of fame in the \u201980s when their neighbor sought a restraining order against them after a sexual dalliance with the two of them turned hostile \u2014 would have already run its course. According to reports, Freda and Greta not only looked and dressed alike, but spoke in unison, as if they shared a single brain. No doubt the TikTok<\/a> amateur detectives would\u2019ve momentarily shifted from true crime to the Chaplin twins, trying their damnedest to debunk what only the sisters could truly understand. One can\u2019t possibly grasp the closeness two people share until they\u2019ve experienced firsthand the joy and indescribable pain that come with the kind of enmeshment written in fate\u2019s codex.<\/p>\n

Though to his credit, Herzog tried his best. In his memoir, \u201cEvery Man for Himself and God Against All,\u201d he describes tracking down the Chaplin twins with a newspaper photograph of the building they lived in. \u201cYou could have folded a picture of them, and the two halves would\u2019ve matched,\u201d Herzog writes. He watched them vacuum together, walking side by side with four hands on the machine at once until they got stuck between two chairs, sending them into a tizzy. Trying to open a can of sardines could\u2019ve gravely injured them had the twins not gotten into a screaming match in the process. Ever the humanist, fascinated by ordinary people taking on otherwise herculean tasks to the point of obsession, Herzog resolved decades ago to make a film inspired by the sisters. He even had a title.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(Gateway to Orkney) Rooney Mara and Kate Mara in \u201cBucking Fastard\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBucking Fastard\u201d is a remarkable exploration of loneliness that only decades of tender rumination and appreciation could provide. For the wistful, lovelorn loner, it\u2019s an imperative reminder that being attached at the hip can still be isolating, no matter how much two people think alike.<\/p>\n

\u201cBucking Fastard,\u201d Herzog\u2019s long-gestating, extraordinary feature born from his time with the Chaplin twins, takes its name from an obscenity they shouted in court while on trial for the restraining order \u2014 a slip of the tongue allegedly uttered at the same time. History contends whether or not this really happened. But Herzog\u2019s film makes it, and everything else, seem entirely possible. Screening at this year\u2019s New York Film Festival<\/a>, \u201cBucking Fastard\u201d is a loaded cannon, currently waiting for a distributor to light the fuse to send Jean and Joan Holbrooke (Kate<\/a> and Rooney<\/a> Mara, respectively) soaring hand in hand into a world desperately in need of their peculiar wisdom.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Playing versions of the Chaplins, the Holbrooke sisters share shades of classic Herzog characters while being quite unlike any of the eccentrics he\u2019s brought to life before. Set in the present day, the sisters feel out of step with time, as if a glitch in the system spawned them here, letting them observe the world without understanding what it\u2019s like to really live in it. As such, Jean and Joan are the only people who truly understand one another. But having a companion who sees everything the same way we do does not necessarily equate to love. Either sister\u2019s sense of self is fundamentally rooted in the other. Their crippling codependence is alienating, as if there really were only one of them.<\/p>\n

As Herzog moves the sisters between reality and film\u2019s dreamy latter half, he plunges into the fizzy static that comprises their cosmic connection, examining their solitude as only he can. \u201cBucking Fastard\u201d is a remarkable exploration of loneliness that only decades of tender rumination and appreciation could provide. For the wistful, lovelorn loner, it\u2019s an imperative reminder that being attached at the hip can still be isolating, no matter how much two people think alike.<\/p>\n

Herzog impresses this notion from the very beginning: A dream shared by Joan and Jean, in which the sisters stand in a corridor flanked by caged birds. \u201cWe could not be sure we saw the same birds,\u201d they recall. \u201cOnly that there were cages on both sides.\u201d The introduction sits right between poetic and blunt, and this same small, temporal crevice is where the Holbrooke sisters spend their time. Jean and Joan\u2019s shared existence would otherwise make their days dull and predictable, but their bizarre circumstances let them see beyond their own purview and into someone else\u2019s, even if only for a blip. They revel in the fascination they stir. Still, other people\u2019s reactions to their similarity only remind the sisters of the bond they can\u2019t break. Their gift is a curse. That\u2019s the funny thing about love: No matter how perfect it is \u2014 no matter how much it seems like it\u2019s written in the stars \u2014 there will always be the suspicion, somewhere in the back of your mind, that life might have something else to offer.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m at a point in my own life where much of my time is consumed by this very thought, facing forks in the road that feel more like cliffs. At 32, I like to feel fairly confident that, when it comes to relationships, I know the difference between love and comfort. But then something will happen that reminds me of life\u2019s sheer unpredictability, and that matters of the heart are purely unknowable. After years of certainty, I\u2019m no longer sure that true love is someone who knows you to the point of an echo. Is such sheer, universal familiarity the root of love \u2014 the kind of connection that everyone from Keats to Keaton wrote about \u2014 or does it trap you in one place, stunting your growth? How can anyone live like this, so doubtful about what is right and wrong? This is what leaps of faith are for, sure. But eventually, you reach an age where you put more emphasis on faith than the leap itself. If pleasant contentment is guaranteed if you just stay put, why take the risk?<\/p>\n

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So much of Herzog\u2019s career has been about weighing the hazards of happiness. Whether he\u2019s challenging Fitzcarraldo (and himself) to lift a 320-ton steamship over a mountain, revealing the tragedy of Nosferatu\u2019s immortality, or illuminating the perils of a life in nature, Herzog has dedicated his life\u2019s work to pondering what we\u2019ll do for our passions. In this way, \u201cBucking Fastard\u201d feels like the culmination of it all. As the film progresses, Herzog intimately considers humanity\u2019s relationship to the insurmountable. Could there be a place, somewhere in this vast Earth, where Joan and Jean don\u2019t have to sacrifice their codependent sisterly bond to enjoy life\u2019s pleasures?<\/p>\n

So much of Herzog\u2019s career has been about weighing the hazards of happiness. In this way, \u201cBucking Fastard\u201d feels like the culmination of it all. Herzog intimately considers humanity\u2019s relationship to the insurmountable. Could there be a place where Joan and Jean don\u2019t have to sacrifice their codependent sisterly bond to enjoy life\u2019s pleasures?<\/p>\n

As soon as they begin to wonder, the Holbrooke sisters \u2014 almost imperceptibly \u2014 begin to drift apart before snapping back in place. But maybe that\u2019s progress. It could be enough. Perhaps this existence is more about riding the ebb and flow than it is mapping the course.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d be remiss not to heap praise on the sisters Mara, who bring something to the screen that I haven\u2019t seen in quite some time. Their bond is, no surprise, electric. But it\u2019s their palpable trust in one another that\u2019s staggering. Always in the same frame, they exude a preternatural comfort that extends beyond familial ties and speaks to their shared life paths. Both Rooney and Kate are keenly aware of how petrifying it can be to be perceived, and how galvanizing it can be as well, and they bring both senses to their shared performance. It\u2019s a sight to behold. For what \u201cBucking Fastard\u201d lacks in Herzog\u2019s early directorial style, it makes up for by focusing its lens on the magic happening in front of it. It\u2019s like watching stars being sewn into the fabric of the universe.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Naturally, the Mara connection is the selling point here. But it\u2019s also what grounds Herzog\u2019s very airy, funny film. Every time the filmmaker\u2019s typically unconventional ideas threaten to tilt the movie too far askew, the sisters bring \u201cBucking Fastard\u201d back on the straight and narrow. (Well, as straight and narrow as a film about two horny, completely in-sync sisters can be.) They beautifully elucidate Herzog\u2019s complex notions of loneliness, reminding us that the heart\u2019s desire to cling to something familiar and safe can also be its undoing. Such closeness is inherently limiting, even when it\u2019s ideal, too. \u201cBucking Fastard\u201d relishes those contradictions, supposing that there might be some version of life where they can coexist in harmony. Herzog doesn\u2019t have the answer to that question, and he doesn\u2019t pretend to. He only knows that it\u2019s enough to wonder.<\/p>\n

\u201cBucking Fastard\u201d screens from Wednesday, September 30, at the New York Film Festival. The film is currently seeking distribution.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/p>\n

about the inimitable Werner Herzog<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When prolific filmmaker Werner Herzog first met the Chaplin twins, Freda and Greta, the internet as we know…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":913282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[49,48,361,75],"class_list":["post-913281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=913281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/913282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=913281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=913281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=913281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}