This is one of those films that is based on true events so I’m going to be a bit nicer to the characters than I would be otherwise. I assume the general flow is accurate to real life even if things might be changed here or there. It just doesn’t make anyone look all that good by the end of it but makes for a good story. The artwork isn’t really my kind of style but it must be huge as I definitely see it around a lot in real life.

The film starts off by introducing us to Margaret who has just split up from her husband. This film takes place back in the day where this was a much rarer event. Margaret knew that this was necessary but is in a rough place now since it is hard to get a job. She also has to take care of her daughter Jane. For now Margaret is making ends meet by selling street paintings but it is just barely enough to get by. She ends up meeting a guy named Walter who also draws a lot. He claims that she has potential and even seems to have feelings for her. Margaret feels like this is all going a little fast but then her ex husband goes to court for custody of their daughter. The only easy way out of this is to quickly re-marry so she gets together with Walter and keeps Jane. Unfortunately she did not have time to properly get to know Walter and it turns out that he is incredibly money hungry. Will she really be in for a happy life now or is that time already gone?

I’d say the first problem here is how quickly she got together with Walter. Yes, the film gives us a plausible case through the whole custody scenario but that still doesn’t feel like it would be enough for her to enter this institution again. Divorcing once clearly took a whole lot out of Margaret so going back in just seems like bad business. She could have at least talked with her friend about it more. Margaret has one friend in the film who seems to have a good head on her shoulders the whole time. She is constantly letting Margaret know that this isn’t a good idea and pokes holes in all of the gaslighting that Walter does.

The really disappointing thing is that Margaret chooses Walter over her best friend. It was clear that Walter had his own agenda so she shouldn’t have done that. The friend really wasn’t treated very well here and so you don’t blame her for showing up less often as time went on. As a friend there is a hard limit to just how much you can help someone out. After a point, there is just no way to pull that off. Everyone has to solve their own problems at the end of the day. You can give them all of the tools needed to solve it, but if they don’t use those tools, well then you will have really done all that you could by then.

Walter isn’t exactly subtle either as he begins taking credit for Margaret’s paintings right away. He offers the weakest excuses possible and Margaret shouldn’t have stood for it from the beginning. Then once he sees that she lets him get away with this much, he continues to escalate over and over. Before long he doesn’t allow her to leave her room or have any friends. Now this may just be a runtime issue but it all happens so fast that it just makes her look terrible. Margaret even allows Walter to forbid her from talking to Jane and even introducing a bunch of lies. Margaret was far too passive the whole time.

It all may sound like victim blaming right here but it’s why this film is an important example of why you can’t be a doormat. There will always be someone waiting to step on you. Margaret needed to establish strong guardrails/boundaries from the start. That would have made this a very different film altogether. Rushing the marriage was also another bad thing and I say this as someone who does think that the dating cycle can be drawn out too long. You don’t need to date someone for 2 years to decide if they are marriage material but you can’t go to the other extreme and marry someone after a few months. Dating is the interview process to try and see past the other person’s mask where you find out if he/she is a good person or not.

As for Walter, well he is an effective villain. He’s not a likable guy at all but it is still grudgingly impressive how good he is at networking. The guy has a ton of failed scams by this point but is still able to leverage more victims for his future endeavors. It shows just how much you can do when you don’t have a sense of shame. He strolls right into art galleries and lies as much as it takes in order to claim his prize. He even walks into court and lies like a champ. The guy just doesn’t get embarrassed and there is something to be learned from that.

Someone using those traits for good would be a very effective piece without a doubt. I will say that the film should have had a larger portion of the court case though. I feel like that’s one of the most important aspects of this case after all and it’s treated more like an afterthought. It’s more of a comedic plot than an epic climax after all. It was still a lot of fun but should have really played out on screen. The main argument for Walter would be that Margaret would not have been able to sell her paintings without him. He could point to how timid she was and how she didn’t have much success before him.

I would still be on her side in the court case but at least you add some intrigue there. For the most part he was just floundering and doubling down the whole time. The guy is great at working a crowd as seen before so I would think that he would put up more of a fight there. Either way it leads to a happy ending which is important. Margaret really had a rough road throughout the whole film so she earned a bright moment.

Overall, Big Eyes is an interesting film. I may not have been a fan of the art style but clearly it does resonate with a lot of people. It can be a frustrating film to watch though because the whole time you just feel like Margaret is making things worse and worse for her. She just needed to stand up for herself at least a little but instead she surrenders on all points. At the very least, she needed to stay strong for her daughter. By the time she is actively lying to Jane, it feels like Margaret has completely lost the plot. You always have to be careful if you are being pulled away from family members or friends because that is always an incredibly large red flag. Your support network are the ones you can count on to help you see what is going on with a clear head.