Symbolic insomnia I will make a reservation right away: Nolan’s remake does not elicit strong feelings in me, like any secondary product created with a noticeable simplification of the original. Yes, and the play of the beautiful Al Pacino in this case is perceived without breathing and delight, as it usually happens. And in general, 'Insomnia' I recognize only in the Swedish-Norwegian video-sound version. Moreover, it was this film that Stellan Skarsgård discovered for me - long before he mastered the big movie & #39; in Marvel supras and Caribbean pirates.
The debut of Eric Scholdberg, it seems to me, too lightly christened a thriller - fighters for the purity of the genre must be reproached ' Insomnia' in the absence of sharp intrigue with a characteristic pressure ' atmosphere'. In fact, all the tension is concentrated in the character of Skarskard - a visiting detective with an ambiguous reputation, but nevertheless, considered a cool specialist. And since the detective himself does not have special confidence in himself or his abilities, the whole plot is based on dissonance of external and internal. And in this regard, the film is more of a psychological detective than anything else.
I read somewhere that the director managed to revive Tarkovsky’s almost forgotten symbolism in his first film. But if the maestro had it at the level of the higher spheres, then here we see, like, ' household' symbolism. I understand the thought of the author of this sentence, although the definition ' household' too primitive for this film, because we are still dealing with a specific detective story. In the criminal fabric, the hero of Skarsgård is woven, so to speak, with all the fibres. Starting from the investigation of a specific crime - the murder of a schoolgirl of questionable behavior, to personal entanglement from a random story that led to the death of a partner, with whom he, judging by the hints and remarks ' the host team' had more than an easy relationship. And the question of the main ' villain', asked about it directly in the face, allows you to think about whether the trigger was pulled so accidentally in the fog.
At the same time, the actor has a mixture of feelings on his face, which ' colleagues ' perceive as self-confidence and clear knowledge of the matter, and the viewer sees a stormy inner turmoil and sometimes complete confusion. I confess, I have not seen such a virtuoso acting for a long time, when only facial expressions are involved, and the thought that excites the hero is read in the eyes. And the transition from state to state occurs in a matter of minutes. I remember this impression arose from the play of the legendary Soviet actor Innokenty Smoktunovsky.
And here's Stellan Skarsgard! It is incredibly interesting to watch how his detective, doomed to admit that ' saw the figure in the fog', expects the inevitable flight into the tartartars in all senses of life, and a minute later suddenly comes to life, hearing in response: ' You saw the criminal and he killed your partner...' - just like in a famous anecdote where the penalized husband asks: ' You are smart, come up with something' Colleagues, blinkered by the professional authority of a stranger, themselves came up with a way out for him and then the professional acts strictly within the limits indicated by them. And who is to be blamed for 'evasion of responsibility'? However, at the same time you will have to pull out of suspicion and a real villain. Which in fact and not so maniac turns out, and that at the very beginning of the film washed the head of his victim, it is from perfectionism.
This word is said only once, by a detective. But the quality indicated by him is directly related to both the killer and the detective. For while the former carefully tries to cover up the traces of an accidental crime, the latter tries no less carefully to cover up the pages of his own life. In the same desire to look perfect in front of themselves and society, they are defenseless and weak. And the harder they try, the more fate throws them 'accidents'. And over time, the viewer understands the scene on the plane, when the partner is sleeping on his shoulder, and not the random question of the killer collecting 'kompromat' for blackmail, and the random conversation of police officers about how he ' conducted interrogation with bias'. And failures, so to speak, on the erotic front add to understanding. And insomnia, like physical malaise, becomes a kind of symbol of the restless feelings of a person who got almost to the middle of life and so did not reconcile with himself.
I confess that genderistic strawberries in the movie mostly annoy me, but in this case, Stellan Skarsgard, who can not be suspected of any kind of non-traditional, managed to very subtly and very clearly (on emotions alone) show the restless soul of a person who is not at peace with themselves. And if this time he managed to get away from problems with the law, then this does not alleviate, but only aggravates the hero's position. This is especially easy to read in the footage when he watches as the whirlpool drags the stumbling killer. It would seem that the threat has disappeared, but there is no liberation on his face, and the horror of despair - as if the abyss looked at him. It is a pity that Skarsgård has not had the opportunity to demonstrate his talent to the same extent. But for fame and money, everyone pays in their own way.
In the more than two decades that have passed since the premiere of Insomnia 39, the film was watched by all the people around me. Not once. For sure, we will return to this work of a talented Norwegian director, who has repeatedly proved his right to our attention.
9 out of 10