It's no secret amongst film enthusiasts that The Weinstein Company has a habit of cutting longer films down to size after purchasing distribution (see "The Grandmaster" and "Snowpiercer"). The latest film to be recut for seeming commercial value is "The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby," which now has three versions: "Him," "Her," and "Them." While the recut version did receive some nominations at the Cannes International Film Festival, some critics who did get to see all three versions are unhappier with the recut. Moreover, one might begin to wonder how the film might fair in the Oscar race with the "Them" version being offered ahead of the "Him" and "Her" versions.

"My hard copy was incredibly thick, so I thought, ‘That's strange. They must be using both sides of the paper.' Then we started and I thought, ‘This thing's massive.' . . . And then we started the read-through and I realized . . ." said James McAvoy in an interview the Concord Monitor. The actor hilariously seemed to be the only one unaware that the film would be broken up into three parts, despite his agent working in the same agency as the director, Ned Benson. He couldn't have seen the third part coming at that point anyway, because that was a revision that didn't come until "The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby" found a home with The Weinstein Company.

So far in it's limited release, "Them," the Weinstein recut that has combined footage from the "Him" and "Her" original version, is doing well. It's at 68% on the Rotten Tomato meter, with most critics impressed with the performances from James McAvoy and especially Jessica Chastain. As Indiewire states, "Chastain's Eleanor is cold and distant compared to Connor, but as the delicate actress that she is, she gives all of herself and delivers another highly nuanced, human character." But if you notice, critics at both Indiewire and The Hollywood Reporter prefer the "Him" and "Her" split versions over the newly cut "Them" version.

Does this suggest that depending on which version the Academy sees, Benson and cast may not make it to the Oscars?

Currently it doesn't look like Jessica Chastain won't make it. She's got plenty of films that are in good contention. Her performance in "The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby" is currently predicted to be a possible dark horse for the Best Actress category. As for other awards like Best Director and Best Picture, it doesn't seem likely with the 15 rotten reviews that the "Them" version has received.

In short, while the Weinstein Company will probably have plenty of films to bank on at the Oscars, they may have accidently cut "The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby" out of any chances besides acting.