'East of Eden' review: Steinbeck tale never finds its direction

WHAT IT'S ABOUT A severely beaten woman turns up at the farmhouse door of Adam Trask (Christopher Abbott) and his brother, Charles (Mike Faist). After nursing her back to health, Adam falls in love with her, then she reluctantly agrees to marry him. "She" is one of American literature's most famous antiheroines — Cathy Ames (Florence Pugh) who has already murdered her parents, and is just beginning her reign of terror.

She and Adam head to Salinas, California, where twin sons are born, Aron (Joe Anders) and Cal (Joseph Zad). Cathy leaves them all to make her own fortune, as a prostitute, while Adam gets help raising the two boys — Lee (Hoon Lee), who is the voice of sanity amid the insanity. This seven-parter based on the John Steinbeck novel was adapted by Zoe Kazan ("The Big Sick"), granddaughter of Elia Kazan who directed the 1955 classic film starring James Dean as Cal.

MY SAY "East of Eden" began life in 1952 as Steinbeck's self-avowed magnum opus, followed by ... bestsellerdom, an Oscar-winning movie, required high school reading and finally "Classic American Novel" cachet. Consigned to the library shelf, the dust collected, until ... the second life began! Thanks to Oprah, who gave her book club blessing in 2003, "Eden" has been in print pretty much since.

Other than that 1955 movie, Hollywood hasn't been so welcoming. The big reason is probably Cathy. Back in the old days (the '50s), she's what people called a "Jezebel" — a scheming, possibly murderous, morally compromised woman, or (in old-timey parlance) a floozy. There was nothing beneath that hardened exterior. She was Steinbeck's Eve to Adam's (umm) Adam, or original sin itself. In effect, she was a misogynist's fever dream. Who'd want to sit through a two-hour movie with that circa 2026? Who'd want to sit through a seven-hour miniseries?

Pugh tries, oh, how she tries. A fine actress, she fully commits to the role, or as much as she can with what's already prescribed. She's trained her eyes to be flat, expressionless, to look coldly upon a world that her character will, in due course, carve up according to her own ruthless specifications. After killing her parents, and nearly her husband, then abandoning her children, what's left to do? Run the best little brothel in Salinas, but she must knock off the resident madam first (Martha Plimpton, in a memorable turn).

And so it goes. Cathy will meet her grim fate — Jezebels always do in the movies — but there's a long lead-up to that, leaving you plenty of time to figure out what could have actually made this work (if anything). Unlike her grandfather, Kazan has been particularly faithful to the source material, which means there are self-imposed limitations. She can't change Cathy too much or she becomes someone else. She can't give her too much interior dialogue because that drifts too far off script, too. Steinbeck apparently didn't care much about her interior life anyway.

Kazan can give her agency, and a feminist spin — both she and Pugh try — but even that can only go so far. Besides, Cathy's got work to do — set up the entire meaning of "Eden," which revolves around the Hebrew word "timshel," or "thou mayest." People do have free will. Generations aren't locked into the behavior of prior generations. Individuals can choose whether to be good or evil. Cal doesn't have to be like Cathy after all.

So what, you say? Right. At least Kazan does get another memorable performance here, Hoon Lee as the moral center of this bleak universe is terrific. A shame Steinbeck didn't write his opus about his character instead.

BOTTOM LINE A grim, gloomy, sodden slog.