‘By the Sea’ Trailer: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt Live Unhappily Ever After

The world’s most famous celebrity couple is back on the big screen together — and it doesn’t look like their characters are having that great of a time.

The morose first trailer for By the Sea (above) introduces us to Roland (Brad Pitt) and Vanessa (Angelina Jolie Pitt, billed for the first time with her husband’s surname), an American couple sulking through a vacation at a picturesque French resort in the 1970s. Set to the ironic soundtrack of Harry Nilsson’s “Perfect Day,” there’s very little dialogue, but there is a lot of high melodrama — and enough smoking to make you cough. In other words, it all feels appropriately European.

By the Sea comes 10 years after Mr. and Mrs. Smith, the hit romantic thriller that lead to the stars’ coupling, and the only previous project on which they’ve collaborated. It’s the third film directed by Jolie Pitt, who also wrote the screenplay, after the acclaimed but little-seen In the Land of Blood and Honey (2011) and last year’s WWII epic Unbroken. Jolie Pitt has said she’ll likely move away entirely from acting in the coming years to focus more on filmmaking.

It’s been a good week for Sea enthusiasts. The new trailer comes on the heels of the release of behind-the-scenes photos from the Maltese set of the drama. And you’ll be glad to know there are some smiles.

By the Sea hits theaters Nov. 13.