The Oscar-winning actor co-stars with Christian Bale in the period thriller set for a Dec. 23, 2022, theatrical release.
Oscar winner, living legend and C&I reader favorite Robert Duvall has only two scenes in The Pale Blue Eye, the upcoming Netflix period thriller from writer-director Scott Cooper (Hostiles, Crazy Heart). Indeed, you could say he has only 1 ½ because the second scene is so short. But never mind: Duvall makes absolutely every second count in his effortlessly attention-grabbing performance as Jean Pepe, a scholar of the supernatural arts who provides invaluable information to two men investigating a horrible crime at West Point in 1830: Renowned detective Augustus Landor (Christian Bale) and an eccentric cadet the world soon would know as Edgar Alan Poe (Harry Melling).

“I have an old friend who might be of use,” Landor tells Poe before they venture to Jean Pepe’s home for a consultation. Just before they enter, however, Landon adds: “He might be the most peculiar man I have ever come across.” Seated in his book-lined inner sanctum, the aged scholar does indeed seem like an odd and enigmatic fellow — but he is more than willing to share his theories about strange symbols Landor has happened upon during his inquiry. Specifically, Jean Pepe notes the connection to the fabled book of a notorious witchfinder. “Rumor has it,” he says, “there are instructions for immortality.”
Which, of course, might provide a motive for the heinous crime Poe and Landor are trying to solve: After a cadet is found dead near the West Point military academy, it’s discovered when the body is transported to the morgue that the heart has been surgically removed with surgical skill by person or persons unknown.
Based on the novel of the same name by Louis Bayard, The Pale Blue Eye will kick off a theatrical run Dec. 23, and premiere on Netflix Jan. 6. The review embargo doesn’t lift until Dec. 22. But since there is no social media reaction embargo, our senior writer Joe Leydon — who, when he’s not busy riding for our brand, is a film critic for Variety and other outlets — praised the movie on Twitter and Facebook late Saturday as “thoroughly engrossing, arrestingly suspenseful and extremely well-acted.” And a far more important observer also offered high praise.

Don’t blink, and you won’t miss Robert Duvall in this trailer.
Photography: Scott Garfield/Netflix