The film is about one unhappy family, which, probably, in its own way still happy against the background of the cold British landscape.
The action of the family drama “Archipelago” takes place on one of the islands of an old woman in Britain, where a family of three people arrives incomplete: mother, son and daughter. They met to spend a few days together before their son left for volunteer work in Africa. The mother rented for them the same house where the children used to spend holidays.
The company of the family is a cook who knows how to cook live lobsters and talk about it beautifully and smoothly - so that you will listen, as well as an elderly artist, a friend of a mother who gives painting lessons to her and her hysterical daughter, and teaches the life of her son.
Loneliness is the main theme of the painting. All members of the family are lonely people who do not understand why they met in the first place. To create the appearance of a family? A family that can’t be called anything but a group of scattered islands. In a word, the archipelago.
The cook is closer to his son than his mother and sister. The father sends everyone far and long - by phone. All she knows is to throw tantrums at home and at the restaurant, instead of supporting her brother, who doesn’t understand why he’s going to work in Africa. At the same time, the sister sincerely believes that she and her mother are a real family for her brother, and his girlfriend, with whom he has been dating for a year and a half (!) as a date, is superfluous. The family is probably a stamp in the passport.
A pleasant company for a brother is a young cook who knows how to communicate in a human way and whose brother is really interesting as a person. They are easy and easy to have nice conversations, but even she can’t stand this atmosphere of misunderstanding and burden that reigns in the family. And she packs her knives and leaves in English without saying goodbye.
The only adequate person is the artist. He is an observer who, in the end, decides to give some advice to a guy, support him, understand what he wants or does not want in this life.
All family battles look like something so inconsequential, passing and repeating from century to century against the backdrop of the peaceful, windy and unsociable landscape of the island, salt splashes of the sea, hills and rare solar glare. You look and realize that everything will pass, and this cold, wild island will stay, absorb all these stories, and wait for new ones.
I must admit, I didn’t like the movie. But the review is neutral. That’s because I don’t think I have the right to judge someone’s style. If the director did it that way, then she saw it that way. I would also like to take this opportunity to express my admiration for the authors of the reviews that have already been published here. This is a really important work - the interpretation of philosophical cinema. I started watching under the influence of such positive recommendations, but, alas, the film disappointed me. Let me explain why.
First of all, I love movies that have a certain philosophical bias, but those that are dialogue-based. Or the ones that make you think. But this tape has neither one nor the other inside itself. As a result, the film caused me not even boredom, no, some existential despair.
Secondly, it seems that this film should awaken some thought in us, but in fact it exclusively affects emotions. It seems to be a very interesting technique of the director – the involvement of the viewer in the feelings and experiences of the characters through monotonous, almost wordless “action”. But why was it used? For the viewer to experience again what he encounters daily and once again convinced that there is no way out? The whole film breathes some hopelessness and hopelessness. Adult children cannot be separated from their parents. A wife can't wait for her husband. It seems that Edward is trying to somehow confront his family, trying to start living, but his attempts are not particularly admirable. He constantly talks about what he should do and why, as if he did not believe that he could help. And he doesn't really believe in himself. And I still have a feeling he's not coming back. And it doesn’t matter to anyone.
I think the biggest success was choosing an actor to play Edward. In this static role, Tom looked very organic with his Greek profile and some wooden gestures. In some scenes he was very reminiscent of Alexander Blok. Edward turned out to be a romantic, self-absorbed, but at the same time, as if he were a man without will.
I don’t know, of course, what kind of Tom is in life, but here, as in most of his films, he turned out in spite of everything somehow inspiring and bright. and this aura of his sharply contrasts with the general mood of the film and the original content of the image.
I was the only one who watched this movie to the end. And, as someone has already noted here, he appears as if direct contact, he turns out to be some kind of family and close, a long-known person. And his Edward, perhaps that is why he is not rejected, on the contrary, his helplessness before life is touching. And he and his words, despite all their utopia, want to believe.
The story of a man who wanted to change the world.
This picture refers to those films about which they say “on the amateur”. Most often, such films open all sorts of film festivals, and show them to an inexperienced American blockbuster viewer. The whole film is like one of those pictures that Christopher paints: blue sky, cold, but at the same time beautiful landscape, imbued with the spirit of freedom and happiness. Or are these pictures from the head of the main character Edward, a man desperately trying to change something in someone else’s fate? For him there is no self as such: he does not share the experiences of his mother, sister for himself, because his whole life consists of the fates of people dear to him. By nature, Edward is an idealist who does not notice the chaos around him: he desperately tries to fight it like a disease. He does not understand all the fuss around his departure: for Edward, his volunteering is a way to make the world a better place.
In a way, the story of Edward’s house is reminiscent of the story of Christ in the house of Martha and Mary. His whole family is absorbed in the hassle to properly conduct him, and does not hear his thoughts and desires, for them they seem insane and stupid. Like Mary, Rose is the only one who seems close to Edward. However, for Rose, Edward’s life is alien: she cannot help the whole world, she confines herself to her work, not trying to fix the whole world.
Another mysterious figure in the film is Edward’s father, whom we only see by phone. We can neither condemn him nor justify him. Perhaps, like Edward, he is global in his love, forgetting about loved ones, or, conversely, love is alien to him. In any case, the story of Edward is the story of a man desperately trying to make the world a better place when his family became a completely alien world for him, reducing the existence of the protagonist to a life in which the whole world became home and all people became a family.
I'm one of those people who saw this movie because of Tom Hiddleston.
This film is definitely a drama.
This is a typical European movie (the UK is often referred to as Europe), it begins and ends with nothing. With all this, the film is full, there are no “white spots” or extra moments in it. Any frame or fleeting dialogue, everything carries its semantic load, an interesting thought, food for thought.
The family, mother, daughter and son, rent a house by the sea for two weeks to communicate and thereby adequately escort their son on a long journey. While they are waiting for the arrival of the father of the family, each goes about his own business, the female half learns to draw from the artist who comes to their house, and the son is in deep reflection, showing, at the same time, a keen interest in the cook. And, watching (namely, this impression is created by the viewer when watching) for this family, we reveal the drama of each family member. And with personal dramas, the drama of the family as a whole looms. However, in addition to the participation of the viewer in the life of a single family and the people with whom they intersect, the film can glean information about how, for example, you can cook lobsters, or pluck a duck. And it's funny, there's a twist to it. In addition, the film is filled with stunning landscapes, almost wildlife, singing birds, the breath of the wind.
I definitely didn't regret watching. The film is inspiring. My head was filled with new thoughts and ideas. This is often lacking in life when everything is so fast.
Do I recommend this movie? Yes! I certainly don’t recommend it to people who hate concept movies. It’s not like that, but I’m afraid it will be difficult for them to “sit” until the end.
The movie that everyone started watching because of Tom Hiddelston.
On the remote island comes a young man - Edward. His mother and sister are planning a family vacation before Edward goes to Africa to fight AIDS. The company they are hired for two weeks housekeeper and a talented artist, giving the mother of the family painting lessons. Such a beginning of the film could form the basis of some detective, in the spirit of Agatha Christie. Here you and the limited space of the island, assortment of characters and it remains to find a corpse among the rocks, so that the amazing story of the crime begins.
But no, all this tinsel is not in the movie. Director and screenwriter Joanne Hogg tells a very different story: family and misunderstanding. Edward, whose role was brilliantly performed by the now rising star of Thor and The Avengers Tom Hiddleston, gives the impression of a very timid and restrained young man who does not fully understand what and how he should do in life. He is completely overwhelmed by his overbearing sister, and his mother does not even try to resist the pressure of a young girl. Throughout the film, a story of family misunderstanding and confrontation develops. Rest, spoiled by his sister's reproaches, Edward's guilt, his mother's poor health, his father's refusal - a voice in the phone - to come on a family vacation. Home worker - a girl from a friendly family, tired, from constant scandals, leaves, leaving a note.
The artist generously shares all the secrets of painting and tries not to be offended by the painful attacks of the sister of the main character. However, the heroine of her tantrums do not bring much pleasure. She hates herself. In general, it seems that everyone in this family hates themselves, swears at others, locks themselves in their world and does not try to fight. No one knows what he wants, so he treats others.
If Edward were an American film hero, he would probably look like Woody Allen. I'd go to a psychoanalyst and groan hilariously at life. However, there is a possibility that Edward would have listened to the words of the artist, urging him to fight for himself, his identity, his opinion. In the Russian version of the film, perhaps the hero, in the spirit of the classics, would run with an axe after hurting his sister, and then everyone would noisily reconcile. And there and there, in the finale would have been the notorious Aristotelian catharsis. But he's not in the Archipilago. Problems are shown only in their actual manifestations. The director only gives slight hints of what preceded the family rift. In general, the film is the quintessence of Tolstoy’s statement that “all unhappy families are unhappy in their own way.” Good thing you can fly off any island by helicopter, and your former home will be cleaned up by janitors. But it is impossible to fly away from unresolved problems, and the family will not be put in order by any outside specialists.
Joanne Hogg is a calm and deep family drama set against the backdrop of beautiful island landscapes. The film may not impress the mass audience with the dynamism of events, but it will attract connoisseurs with the slow development of the plot and a very natural play of the actors.
Edward arrives on an island where his mother and sister give him a farewell weekend before he leaves to volunteer in Africa. Over time, the first impression of family well-being and mutual understanding is gradually debunked. The father is late for the wires of his son, and this seemingly insignificant fact reveals misunderstandings and problems of each family member hidden even from close people.
The picture could stand on a par with dozens of family melodramas similar to it, were it not for the association successfully found and elegantly embodied in the image and likeness of the natural archipelago: each of the characters, from the hesitant Edward in his choice of life path to the absent, but still strongly influencing the family father, united by kinship ties, discover and experience fears and doubts in loneliness, each in himself, unable to be understood by those who are nearby. Like islands. They seem to have something in common, but all the same they are separate and deprived of the possibility of reunification.
For a simple plot and quite common in the genre of “melodrama” idea Hogg chose a calm, so similar to the style of “Mother and Son” by Alexander Sokurov, pseudo-documentary shooting, completely excluding musical accompaniment. As a result, the viewer received a film in which the life of the characters opens to those who watch it, surreptitiously, as if everything seen is the personal secrets of the Edward family, filmed secretly from their owners.
The picture is of interest not so much by its stylistic similarity with the tape of the modern classic of Russian non-format cinema, but by the fact that the plot and idea are expressed in statics lasting an hour and a half. The main thing in Hogg’s work is the right priorities. All the viewers see on the screen is a leisurely story about a few days in the life of a British family. There are no sharply expressed and voiced out loud conflicts, no abrupt vicissitudes. All this is veiled under everyday life and provincial boredom, presented under a veil of everyday life. If you watch the film as a visual presentation, deflecting the emotional component into the background, you can come to the idea that the director tells the viewer about the beauty of nature and the home habits of the middle class in Britain. Why is that? No need. Shift the focus to the inner experiences of each hero, look into these faces, discard what they say, listen to how they say it. You have a different meaning and a different presentation.
Hogg spent most of his career working in television, which is what a documentary about any family would look like. And with this association, the director brings his characters closer to the audience, which makes her picture many times more attractive. It is always interesting to feel like a hero.
The most incredible thing is the presence in this, more visual than dialogue picture of the storyline, with an idea prevailing over it. Hogg, thereby creating a kind of puzzle, stuffed the main idea of her brainchild into the title of the film. The archipelago is the most important idea. How often in life we are faced with nearby “islands” and can do nothing – there is no force that can unite us, there are no words that would allow us, as an island, to understand the other. There is no “father” who has never appeared in the picture.
"Mother and Son" is a multi-minute static shot, resembling more painting than cinema - a technique present in "The Archipelago" to a much lesser extent. But Hogg, as if looking at him in the Sokurov tape, introduced Christopher into the narrative - a friend of the family, an artist. And also gave her heroines the desire to learn to draw. In the first shots, Christopher paints a picture. It is bright and serene, as well as the original, not yet revealed to the viewer state of the family. It is Christopher who plays the role of both an observer (playing along with this state to the viewer) and a family guide, a kind of mentor who, although he cannot unite the family members who are moving away from each other, still involuntarily tries to play the head of the family. No wonder Hogg will put it in a family photo in the place of a temporarily absent father.
The final shots are also marked by the picture. It is gloomy: running on the canvas restless dark waves. And it is water, as a symbol of the emotional state of a person, the director draws his conclusion regarding the family shown to the viewer. Hogg leaves no choice. In her story, in relation to these heroes, everything is clear. Whether you believe it or not is everyone’s business.
After watching this film, I want to tell a lot about it, without even going into the storyline. Just because the plot is simple. This is the story of a family, one of many. They act like us. They do the most ordinary things. There is nothing supernatural about their behavior.
The youngest of the family comes to the island, where a weekend is organized for the whole family in honor of his escorts to Africa, where he decides to go as a volunteer. That's the whole story. It fits into one sentence. But the main thing about the movie is that we're going to be watching, no, reliving this weekend with the heroes. Just watch the ordinary life that surrounds us everywhere.
The film is smooth and measured, giving the viewer the opportunity to fully enjoy the landscapes of the island, the sounds of the sea, the relationship between the characters. Each of them carries its own individuality. We see the character of everyone only through everyday dialogues, actions that any person has done in his life more than once. It's hard to describe. It is necessary to feel, to feel how the ordinary carries more than a sophisticated plot. This picture allows you to look at your own life from the outside. It helps us understand what we are doing wrong and what we should change in our own lives. The viewer is just there, on that island, in that family, among those heroes, and it's just beautiful. It is an unforgettable feeling of presence.
If we talk about the cast, then this is probably the main component of the film. Without their skill, the film would not be what we have in the end.
Kate Fahey, who played the mother and at the same time, during this period, the head of the family. Empathetic, polite and kind, her character has raised wonderful children who have grown up and do not need care, but treat her with due respect and will always be able to help her, and she is always ready to protect them. Her hobby is painting. With it, she seeks herself and distracts herself from everyday life. To show this character better than Kate, probably no one could.
Lydia Leonard played the older sister Cynthia. She always wants justice. She is not sentimental and sometimes seems a little tough, but when she is alone with herself, we see her vulnerability as well.
Tom Hiddleston, the future volunteer Edward. The youngest of the family is often criticized by his older sister. Kind and fair, tries to help others and is going to become a volunteer in part because of this trait of his character. He has doubts about his own choice. Tom is just perfect for this role, it's part of him. Part of his own character, beliefs and position in life.
The film is a stunning work of art that captivates with its simplicity and serenity. It allows you to live this story in yourself, and not just be an observer. That’s just the least I can say about this movie!
Joanna Hogg is now one of my favorite directors.
10 out of 10
I never thought that films so deep could be so obscenely simple. Of course, everything brilliant is simple, but ... the Archipelago is not a film, it is not a picture, not a director’s impulse with strict rules and honed phrases. The archipelago is a something derived from the understanding of cinema. Throughout the film, I was waiting for some trick, some unexpected event or flash, but it was not, and only measured the singing of birds, rolling into each other, diluted by the noise of the surf, wind, rain. I think it's the best soundtrack I've ever heard in a movie, so forgive me, oh greats, Hans Zimmer and Alan Silvestri.
From the beginning, I clinged to each character who filled and complemented the other so harmoniously that there was no dissonance. That is certainly an archipelago of islands with one proud name Family. Throughout the video, I felt like another person who saw it all firsthand, and it is this feeling that makes me feel both sad and good at the same time. The reluctance to part with a loved member of the family, tension, quarrels, uncertainty in their choice, the expectation of the main thing - all these moments are intertwined in one tangle, and the impeccable play of the actors, which even Stanislavsky to assess somehow ashamed, only adds to this ordinary plot of a special dramatic charm. When the heroes cried, quietly, so as not to hear others, my heart clenches in a lump, because the older we get, the quieter our tears. It seemed to me that right now I could come up to them, sit next to them and comfort them. It's -- some form of magic. If a person is usually impressed with a picture, thinks about it, absorbs details when viewing it, then during the appearance of the credits and an absolutely wonderful song, I felt torn to pieces and was like a bare nerve, touching which will have serious consequences. Never before in my life have I felt a presence in a film, and for that alone to the author and director my multimillion-dollar verbal thanks.
I can’t help but mention the magnificent performance of Tom Hiddleston, whose hero was so subtle, ephemeral, I would even say that I wanted to touch these naughty curls and hold them with my palm. An absolutely sweet way to reconcile with your sister with the help of a hand toy, riding with twists on a bicycle, running a race, pushed chairs and hands on the ceiling so as not to hit – all these details cut into memory.
I am happy to give high praise to the film. Because you don't see it every day, and I was lucky to see this picture. And I'm not disappointed at all. I advise everyone to watch this... a piece of family life and maybe you will see something in yours.
10 out of 10
I just watched the movie The Archipelago. And I decided to write a review, so to speak, “hot on the trail.” To see this film at all, I was pushed by the name of Tom Hiddleston, whose play pleased me in Thor and The Avengers. As usual, I started looking for other movies. Before watching, I first watched the trailer, was somewhat perplexed, but then decided to take a chance. Well, I'm just saying, I'm not disappointed.
So let's start with the story. At first glance, the story that this film tells is banal and can cause nothing but a yawn. A young man named Edward comes to a family holiday, arranged in honor of his escorts to Africa, where he goes as a volunteer. Edward is met by his mother and older sister, and they all go to their country house together. Their rest is overshadowed only by the absence of their father, and this gradually increases the situation in the family. Banal? No doubt. Boring? Quite likely. That's probably what everyone will think. But if you still have patience and start watching, then gradually you begin to understand that the story is not so bad, and yawning does not pull even at the fortieth minute of viewing. What's the trick?
The answer is simple. The fact is that the main highlight of this film is its vitality. In fact, the picture tells about a simple, everyday life. There are no magicians, no vampires, no superheroes. Here the director and screenwriter in one person, Joanna Hogg, decided to tell us about our lives, but without embellishment, without exaggeration, without bright Hollywood tinsel. And he did it one hundred percent. The whole time I watched The Archipelago, I had goosebumps running from this realism. It seemed like a real story, filmed on a hidden camera and shown to us, the audience. For in this film there is not an ounce of falsehood, there is no excess brilliance, embellishment. It’s just our life as it really is.
First of all, perhaps, this feeling was achieved by the absence of the soundtrack and any music, as well as the static camera. Thanks to this, the viewer not only will not be distracted by an outsider, but also will be able to fully concentrate on the atmosphere that permeates the film.
The second reason for this realism lies in the amazing acting. Involuntarily, I want to compare this film with similar films and programs, allegedly based on real stories. So, if in our case you want to spit and ask to urgently stop this farce, then you look at “Archipelago” and believe, instead of the actors you see absolutely real people who may actually live somewhere in the UK, on the archipelago. The absolute, even terrible realism of the characters lies in the small things. Simple everyday conversations about nothing and everything, such familiar movements and actions that we make unconsciously. What's the big deal? Well, get comfortable in bed, put your foot on the blanket, put your head under the pillow, put one plate on the other, go to the door to listen to a loud argument, but never risk interfering. It is these non-binding little things that give the film the atmosphere. How you could play like that, I don’t know. It's really art.
The Archipelago is a film about real life, about real people. Perhaps there is no deep morality in it, but it shows us from the outside our own life, or rather, those little things that make life a life, and not an enchanting Hollywood movie. And so
10 out of 10
I want to say a lot more, but thoughts are crowded, and I do not know how to express them in a single text. So just look and feel the atmosphere for yourself. I assure you, it's worth it.