Brian d’Arcy James On the Perils of Fatherhood for ‘The Cathedral’

Ricky D’Ambrose’s The Cathedral is an observant, broken photo album of a film. If you ever had a close relationship with your father, you might think of him as you watch Brian d’Arcy James’ skilled and layered performance as Richard, a man desperate to keep his head above water in terms of how we measure success. The Tony Award nominee paints the complex portrait of someone who cannot keep up with the expectations of a fast-paced, financially successful society, but instead of making him pathetic, he makes his character relatable. d’Arcy James has been nominated for an Indie Spirit Award for Best Supporting Performance, and a win would be huge for a film of this scale.

I keep using the word ‘observant’ to describe D’Ambrose’s film, because it feels as if we are a distant relative invited to a family gathering watching the action. Are we a family member designated to a corner chair as a party unfolds? Perhaps we are the one who totes around one of those comically cumbersome video cameras insisting that we capture every moment. The Cathedral is a singular portrait of one family’s casual evolution, and that singularity stuck out to the actor when he read the script.

“Its uniqueness stuck out to me–this script was unlike anything that I have read before,” James said candidly. “I didn’t know Ricky’s prior film, so when I was able to compare this script to his first feature, I could see that he has a very definitive aesthetic and particular voice. I am not a cinephile, so I am not deep in the encyclopedia of films or experimental filmmaking. I did recently watch Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life, and I brought that up in my meetings with Ricky. His script reminded me of that film. Malick’s film was about shards of memory, and the outer structure was about the origins of the universe. For me, I thought there was a parallel while substituting the origins of the universe with cultural events of the ’80s. That served as a framing device of Jesse’s memory in The Cathedral. That was very alluring to me, and it was a time that, in the middle of COVID, that I wanted to redefine the things that I hoped to achieve artistically. Hoping to have a chance to do something that was different that too a chance. I thought this film did both of those things.”

Richard’s anger / former father-in-law argues with him, “People respect me; how valuable is respect for him

Early in the film, Richard gets into an argument about money with his father-in-law, Nick, and Richard says, ‘People respect me.’ It’s said with confidence and wielded like a weapon, and it’s an instance where we suspect how much value Richard puts in keeping up with his friends and neighbors. Even if he didn’t have the money to buy the shiny new thing, he has that respect to fall back on.

“It’s very important to him,” he said. “The first thing that always comes to mind is the phrase, ‘The Lady doth protest too much.’ If you have to announce and advertise that, there might not be something true about that statement. I think Richard is constantly in the mode of trying to earn it and convey that he has it–it says something about him wanting it. There’s a big of desperation about it. Him announcing or demanding it says something about him from the inside. He needs it, and he thinks that will help him more forward din a vital way. Richard is constantly trying to measure himself up against the ideal, and he’s coming up short. This version of himself, he can never attain. ‘Respect’ is a great word to hone in on in terms of Richard’s struggle of self-identity. Because the context is the ’80s and consumerism is on display, there is a track of Richard trying to show that he is financially successful. He’s defining himself on that front, and any time he falls short, he falls into another trap.”

When we see films about parenthood–whether it be dramatic like Kramer vs. Kramer or light like Cheaper by the Dozen–there is too much emphasis of whether a person is a good parent or not. It can never be so flippantly define, and The Cathedral defies that facile analysis. There is so way that we can see every single parental moment, but James is confident in Richard’s skills as a father.

“He’s a good dad, and he is constantly trying,” he said. “Richard is aware of things that he is capable, and he is very aware of the things he’s not able to do. That’s the source of some of his frustration. It can be a thorn in someone’s side when you aren’t exceeding those limitations. He sometimes has trouble expressing his love and guidance as a father, but he cares about it. It’s not like he is careening through his family life. When he feels inadequate or he can’t keep up, that’s when the fear and the anger comes down and it’s readily visible.”

The Cathedral pinpoints specific moments in history by showing 9/11, Desert Storm, or Chandra Levy, but another moment stuck out to me when the narrator reveals that Richard’s printing business begins to fail. That’s a universal fear for so many people in this country. There is a shot of James’ back as Richard writes a check and we can almost see his posture crumble. What is a man like Richard going to do if the one business he knows is no longer profitable?

“It’s remarkable that Ricky shows such compassion for a person by only seeing their back in a short amount of time,” James said. “I think the accumulation of all of those images is such a unique way of telling a story. I had no idea that that’s the calculus of what Ricky could achieve. There is a removed quality which, I think, represents Jesse’s point of view of this world in which he leaves, but that coolness allows for you to have compassion. You can feel pathos for these characters, because it’s not just one thing. You don’t feel just way about a character in this film–there are so many shades to all of these characters.”

On the stage, James has been a part of many strong ensembles like Hamilton, The Wild Party, Shrek, and the current revival of Into the Woods. He acknowledged that he felt connected to the cast in almost the same way he does when he starts rehearsal on a new production, and we talked about how the film can leave us in the curious grey area. We don’t need everything spelled out for us. It’s like a memory. We don’t always know why one aunt is arguing with another uncle as The Cathedral draws us into its familial web.

“I don’t seek it out, no. But you’re onto something with my communal in terms of the projects I work in. It was a lot of fun when we did the dinner scenes or the groups for the holidays. Filmmaking can be so piecemeal so you don’t get to spend the consistency of time with like a rehearsal with a company over six weeks. That is something that I enjoyed with the making of this movie, because you did get to spend a lot of moments with a big group as we did those scenes together. The levels of history and the levels of familiar relationships were often very confusing. Piecing together who everyone was and tinkering with their connection was a fun thing to do every day.

History, in any family, carries to much to be mined that shapes them going forward. Things you might not know about unless you dare to scratch the surface of it. Part of the beauty of this movie is that we don’t necessarily know how everything fits together, but we recognize that we all have our own histories whether they are clear or unclear. Even if they are unclear, you know they have a lasting effect one way or the other. The expanse is so wide and he does take a concerted effort to go off-road to the different branches of the family. You don’t have to know how everyone is relating to each other, but they have a powerful effect on the other.”

The Cathedral is streaming now on MUBI.