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‘Eleanor Rigby’ x 2. New versions, from a woman and man’s respective POV, debut

Ned Benson’s tragedy-laced romance, starring Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy, was released in theaters last month in a hybrid version called ‘The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them.” Now two new takes, unspooling, respectively, from his and her vantage, play on screen.

The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, starring Jessica Chastain in the title role (her parents – played by William Hurt and Isabelle Huppert – met at a what was supposed to be a Beatles reunion), is a study in the meet-cute, break-up-badly arc of a relationship. Released in theaters last month under the clunky title The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them, the film was a hybrid – an editing room mashup – of what writer/director Ned Benson planned as two separate but paired projects. One, colon-ized Him, examines the storm-tossed romance between Eleanor ("Elle") and James McAvoy's Conor, a struggling New York restaurateur, from his point-of-view. The other, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her, focuses on Chastain, shot from her character's perspective.

It's an ambitious concept, and a dream job for a workaholic editor (Kristina Boden). As anyone who's ever been in a relationship -- or seen Gone Girl -- can tell you, even the closest of couples are coming at their partnerdom with different agendas, different ideas, different feelings. And now, for those intrigued enough to sit through the sad, French New Wave-y story of Eleanor Rigby again, the Him and Her iterations have been released. Beginning Friday, Oct. 10, The Disappearance of Eleanor RigbyHer first, then Him – will be playing back-to-back at the Ritz East.