The cage that is always with you French actress Sandrine Bonner, known to the Russian audience primarily for the film 'East - West', presented in Moscow her first feature film - psychological drama 'J'enrage par son absence' (' I'm going crazy without it') at the opening of the international film festival 'Tomorrow'.
This is not Bonner’s first job as a director. The documentary film Sandrine ' Her name is Sabina' (2007), filmed about the actress's autistic sister, won favor at home both among critics and viewers, but it is possible that her debut in feature film will eclipse her debut in documentary.
Like the previous time, Sandrine Bonner turned to her family history, reworking the events of her childhood and created a piercing drama about loneliness and the inability to overcome her own past.
After ten years of separation, the elderly architect Jacques (William Hurt), who lives permanently in the United States, meets his former lover Mado (Alexandra Lamy), who has long been married and is raising his son Paul. The memories of Jacques and Mado are overshadowed by the tragic death of their common child, from which both could not recover. Having met little Paul, Jacques suddenly falls victim to the unsputtered love that was meant for his own son. Excited by this turn of affairs, Mado forbids Jacques to see Paul, but as it turns out, this is not an obstacle for Jacques with his sudden obsession, especially since the boy is attached to him from the very first meeting. First, Jacques secretly sees Paul when he leaves school, then comes to play with him in the yard when his parents do not see it, and finally asks Paul to give him the key to the basement where the boy keeps his bicycle. Here, perhaps, I will stop the retelling of history: it is clear that it does not lead to anything good.
The director and actors created on the screen an atmosphere of longing, lostness, many years of misfortune, which weighs down the heroes in their daily lives, as well as an increasing sense of tension and an imminent tragic outcome, in which all will suffer equally Some scenes can be called without hesitation ' soul-rending' - but not because of some bloody nightmares, but because of the strongest emotions that they are permeated: how even on the bed of passion the heroes continue to remember the loss, how Jacques in his own house can not be laughed with a small man, he can listen to his happiness, but to someone who has a dirty voice. In my opinion, this drama is worth going to the cinema for their sake.
And now about the shortcomings that are a direct continuation of the merits
It has at least three 'too' too much sadness per unit of time, too many repetitive scenes, and too lengthy plot development. No matter how convincing the actors are, I don’t like to be teared out of me. Therefore, somewhere in the twentieth weeping, sighing, shaking lips and the dreary glances that Jacques and Mado exchange, alas, get bored. It is good that the contrast is the cheerful and cheerful Paul, who cares deeply for his adult friend, but even this is not enough to make the general despondency less tedious. Of course, I do not consider myself entitled to tell authors how to make films, but I think it would be useful here to play on the emotional contrast: a difficult past under the mask of fun and well-being, tears through laughter and laughter through tears, moments of détente, which in the film Sandrine Bonner almost does not: projecting on the screen her personal experiences, she overloads the viewer so that sometimes the picture becomes difficult to perceive, despite the amazing human history. But even in black ' Irreversibility' Gaspar Noe terrible scenes alternate with scenes of love and serenity, which, by the way, hits nerves much more than blood and violence non-stop. There is also too much suspense: at times, the action develops so slowly that it seems that it will not end: this is facilitated by repeated displays of the hero sitting in the basement or standing by the window - a symbol of the cage in which he confined himself many years ago.
However, Sandrine Bonner was not meant to entertain the audience. Her film is for those who love empathy and believe in purification through suffering, and it is unlikely to disappoint such an audience.