Lucy in the Sky

It seems like I have been anticipating the movie Lucy in the Sky for such a long time.  Even though it was panned at TIFF, I decided to see it anyway last night.  Astronaut Lucy Cola (Natalie Portman) has a transformative experience during a mission to space.  When she returns to Earth, she finds it difficult to adapt to ordinary life again.  Everything feels small and insignificant and she feels disconnected from her husband (Dan Stevens) and the rest of her family.  She decides that the only solution is to go back to space and begins obsessively training to be a part of the next mission.  She also begins an affair with fellow astronaut Mark Goodwin (Jon Hamm).  When a training incident grounds her and Goodwin abandons her in favor of another astronaut (Zazie Beetz), she suffers a breakdown culminating in a cross-country road trip to confront Goodwin.  This movie is a total mess and I was actually really disappointed because it has such an interesting premise.  At first it is a haunting, if jumbled, portrait of a woman going through an existential crisis and I didn't mind the overly stylized shots, the skewed perspectives, and the bewildering changes in aspect ratio (director Noah Hawley is trying so hard to be a serious artist).  However, in the third act there is a huge tonal shift with an incredibly trippy scene where Lucy floats through a hospital corridor after her grandmother has a stroke with a psychedelic version of "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" playing underneath it.  After this scene the movie becomes absolutely bonkers as Lucy becomes more and more hysterical while driving to San Diego to pursue her lover.  This suggests that it is not really her experience in space but a failed relationship that causes her undoing. There are moments that are so bizarre I actually laughed out loud, especially a manic shopping trip for kidnapping supplies and an extended sequence showing Lucy running in slow motion.  It is so inconsistent that it seems like two separate movies with a meditative beginning exploring the meaning of existence and then a campy ending about a love triangle.  I was also really confused by a belabored metaphor comparing Lucy to a butterfly that gets destroyed by wasps.  This leads to a strange ending which shows Lucy working as a bee keeper three years after the incident with a final shot of her gazing at a butterfly.  What is this supposed to mean?  Ugh!  The audiences at TIFF were right about this movie and I recommend giving it a miss.