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It's been a decade since we last saw Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Pitt star side by side in a film (remember their rom-com/assassin movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith?). Now they're back together on the screen for a 70s-era drama about a seriously unhappy couple who both just happen to ooze sexiness by just being.
By the Sea is Jolie's baby—she wrote and directed the project, and it's her directorial follow-up to last year's Unbroken. Jolie got her inspiration for this moody relationship drama from European films from the '60s and '70.
The film follows Roland (Pitt) and his wife Vanessa (Jolie Pitt), whose relationship is on the rocks. They try to repair their marriage when they get to an idyllic and peaceful French seaside resort and spend time with other guests, including some newlyweds. Their whole trip, though, seems to open a whole can of worms.
While we don't know exactly what they're bickering about, it's probably something pretty bad since we see Vanessa slap Roland in the face, and also see her as a crumpled mess on the floor. They also whisper things like, "Are we ever going to talk about it? Do you hate me?"
If it feels like mommy and daddy fighting, you're not alone. Things got very real on set as Jolie Pitt described what shooting was like to DGA in an interview. "I'd be directing myself and him in a scene where we're having a fight, and I'd be pulling out the parts [of him] that have an aggression toward me or when you're frustrated with each other—it was very heavy," Jolie Pitt said. "We kept joking that all of the crew felt like they were living in a house where the parents were fighting and you don't know where to stand or where to look."
By the Sea is scheduled to hit theaters on November 13.
