Foxcatcher

Bennett Miller uses the true story of John du Pont to examine how patriotism can be used to advance and to conceal corruption. The story operates on two levels, family psychology and the dynamic of the United States. That is, its subject psychopathology is both personal and societal.

In the familial aspect John (Steve Carrell) chafes to emerge from his mother’s disregard. A patrician, played by the iconic Brit Vanessa Redgrave, she has a passion for horses and disdains of her son’s “low” interest in wrestling. Her disdain only drives him lower. There is no mention of his father, just a reference to his ancestors making the du Ponts America’s richest family by cashing in on the nation’s need for weaponry. John seduces his prize prospect Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) by sympathizing with his putative need to escape the shadow of his older brother and trainer Dave (Mark Ruffalo). As in the school assembly scene, Mark is the substitute for his more heroic brother. John uses Mark to get to his real prey, Dave. He buys the individual so he can buy the family.

The titles play against historic images of the British foxhunt. In naming his wrestling team Foxcatcher John aspires to develop an American glory that would match the older British imperialism. The irony is that both are blood sports, with not much virtue or morality to distinguish either. When his mother visits a training session John takes over the coaching to impress her with his knowledge and leadership of men. He fails. As a boy he was disillusioned to learn his mother had been paying a boy to be his friend. He has ever since tried to prove to her his worth. Where strangers might be impressed by his claims to being an ornithologist, philatelist and philanthropist, she denies him any affection or respect. When she dies he has lost his motivation and abandons all restraint. He turns her stable of world-class valuable horses loose into the wilds. He has already ruined Mark by turning him onto cocaine and booze and reduced him from disciplined wrestler to a stooge promoting du Pont’s image. He has made the chaste stud his bitch.

The sterile opulence and history of the du Pont estate contrasts to the exuberance and warmth of Dave with his family, however seedy their accommodation. Dave’s wife Nancy (Sienna Miller) is the only proper mother and woman we see in this film. Where du Pont prioritizes his self-aggrandizement through his wrestlers, Dave emphasizes his role as father and brother over all else. He saves his Sundays for them. Having destroyed Mark with his ostensible friendship and intimacy, du Pont’s final madness is an assault on the family closeness he never experienced. 

When du Pont adopts his nickname, Eagle or Golden Eagle, he pretends to a male camaraderie he has never known. Friends invent nicknames. The intimacy of the wrestlers’ constant embracing and physical expressions of support is a parody of affection and friendship, that easily tips into violence and bloodshed, even when the grapplers are loving brothers. The first wrestling match we see seems especially homoerotic because only later do we learn the men are brothers. 

But the Eagle image also makes du Pont an embodiment of America. Of course, the du Pont name has come to connote American militarism and destructive chemicals. Carrell plays du Pont with a predatory bird’s beak that is a harsh parody of the Brit’s patrician schnoz. He often freezes in a lofty steely stare. When John isn’t claiming that his “coaching” makes him a model father and mentor, he’s disguising his vain and corrupt activity as trying to revive America’s status in the world. His patriotism is a fraud.
     John clearly buys off his opponent in the over-50 tournament. He effectively buys control of the US Olympics wrestling team. He not only uses cocaine but urges it on his filial charge, Mark. Yet he still claims to be a role model coaching other young role models for America’s youth to follow. In his vanity documentary he climactically uses the tribute footage of the broken and rejected Mark. Carrell’s du Pont is a black caricature of that bromide, “family values.” What makes the du Pont tragedy so current is its reflection of  the Republicans’ paralyzing the government and damaging the nation’s health and economy in blatant self-interest. On the national plane as on the psychological, a profound insecurity results in macho posturing and self-destruction.

     The epilogue suggests a bit of a happy ending. du Pont died in jail. And Mark, whom we last see reduced to the circus of commercial all-in wrestling, is now teaching clinics in Oregon. Mark has become the role model his vile mentor only professed to be.