Incendies (2010)

English translation: Fires

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Screenplay: Denis Villeneuve, Valérie Beaugrand-Champagne (based on the play by Wajdi Mouawad)

Cast: Lubna Azabal, Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin, Maxim Gaudette

Music: Grégoire Hetzel

Time: 130 minutes

Bottom-line: A powerful story, with plot twists right from frame one

Denis Villeneuve’s French film puts together many themes: religion, civil war, survival... all of which provide the base for the story of how two siblings fulfil their mother’s death wish. Starring Lubna Azabal, Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin, Maxim Gaudette and Rémy Girard, this is a story loosely based on the Lebanese Civil War and the life of prisoner Souha Bechara. Incendies was nominated for the Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film.

 

Azabal as Nawal

Jeanne (Poulin) and Simon (Gaudette) are twins living in Canada, where their mother, Nawal Marwan (Azabal), a Canadian immigrant, has just passed away. Her friend and a notary, Jean (Girard), reads out her will, where she asks Jeanne to deliver a letter to her father – who the twins presumed to be long dead – and Simon to deliver another letter to their brother – whose existence they were never aware of. On doing so, they would be given another letter, and only then would they be instructed to bury her. Following few leads, Jeanne goes to an unnamed Middle-Eastern country, where, through flashbacks, Jeanne (and the viewer) learns Nawal’s heinous past – with tales of murder, rape, torture and religious conflicts. Who was Nawal? And who is the mysterious brother and who is the “dead” father?

 

Poulin as Jeanne and Gaudette as Simon

Lubna Azabal, the Belgian actress who played Nawal, is at her very best. From the person who is almost murdered for eloping with a refugee, to the victim of the Civil War, to the assassin, to being the rape victim in prison, she plays each role with such commitment… that is a major driving factor for the success of the film. I like the usage of the camera here: the long shots are designed to focus on the faces of the characters, for just enough time to capture the change in emotion. In particular, look out for the scene where the twins meet the nurse – watch how the happiness slowly turns to shock – and the scene where Nawal is in the swimming pool (towards the end). I remember the same technique being employed in the film 45 Years.

The story gets crooked at times. This film gives a good example of a MacGuffin, which is a device that triggers a story but doesn’t appear in the movie except once or twice (other examples could be the gold watch in Pulp Fiction or the “Heart of the Ocean” necklace in Titanic). The two letters given to the twins do precisely that; you can come up with a dozen “what ifs” with the plot, apart from “Why even give the letters?” but that’s how the story goes. The plot twist at the end is not entirely satisfying; as a notable critic said, “You might end up doing math in your head rather than being shocked at the twist,” and that’s what I ended up doing (I wouldn’t be surprised if you cringe, too)! The other twists are effective though. I liked the narrative structure as well: every time we see the flashback of Nawal, the story of Jeanne picks up from the same location, but from the current timeline, to sort of give an illusion of how Jeanne’s search has progressed.

There is a lot of violence and drama in Incendies. The theme of religion is emphasised a lot. There is one scene where Christians attack a bus full of Muslims – undoubtedly the most gruelling scene of Incendies – which shows the height of violence because of religious conflict. While the ending may not live up to my expectations, the acting and the visuals deserve a lot of praise. It is not a great story, but surely is a powerful one.

My Rating: 3/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 92%

Broken Flowers (2005)

Director: Jim Jarmusch

Story: Jim Jarmusch

Cast: Bill Murray, Jeffrey Wright

Music: Mulatu Astatke

Time: 102 minutes

Bottom-line: Thought-provoking, very open-ended

The winner of the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, Jim Jarmusch’s romantic drama, Broken Flowers, is a film exploring one man’s past relationships. The film stars Bill Murray and Jeffrey Wright in the lead roles, with Sharon Stone, Frances Conroy, Jessica Lange, Tilda Swinton and Julie Delpy in the supporting roles.

"The past is gone. The future isn't here yet. So all there is, is the present."
Don Johnston (Murray), a former Don Juan, has made his fortune in computers, and now lives in isolation, passing time by just watching movies and listening to music. His current girlfriend, Sherry (Delpy) leaves him when she sees a pink letter delivered to him by an old girlfriend. Don shares the letter with his neighbour – a mystery novelist, Winston (Wright) – who becomes intrigued by the content: the unsigned letter says that Don has a son who’s 19 years old, and who has gone in search of his father. Winston persuades Don to give information about all his past girlfriends and even plans a trip for Don, who reluctantly agrees. He visits Laura (Stone), Dora (Conroy), Carmen (Lange) and Penny (Swinton), with each one being progressively more standoffish towards him. Does Don solve his mystery? Or is it all a hoax?

 

Murray as Don

Broken Flowers is deceptively simple in its presentation and narrative. The whole film is about Don looking for clues about the “mystery mother”, and he gets different answers: Laura’s pink nightgown, Dora’s pink business card, Carmen’s dog being named Winston and Penny’s pink typewriter. The facial expressions and dialogues provide ever so subtle hints to the viewers that we can come up with our own explanation for each of the women being the mother. That’s why the climax is so open-ended: neither Don nor the viewers get to know the answer to the mystery, but it is the journey that is memorable. On one hand, we may think it’s a stupid story because, in the end, Don ends up exactly where he started; on the other hand, we can share Don’s crazy journey and learn a lesson or two from it.

Wright as Winston 

Bill Murray’s deadpan expression somehow has a charm of its own; you can never call it bad acting because that’s what makes Bill Murray who he is. The chemistry between Wright and Murray is amazing, with plenty of dry humour. I liked the way the four women have been portrayed, each one damaged in some way, and each one increasingly unfriendly to Don: Laura ends up sleeping with Don again, whose issues with men have passed on to her daughter as well; Dora, a hippie earlier, is now uptight; Carmen is an “animal communicator” with an odd relationship with her secretary, and Penny still holds a grudge against Don. All four actresses have done really well.

I also like how through brief dialogues and no unnecessary flashback, we get a glimpse of Don’s life with each of the four women. On the other hand, from the opening sequence, the elaborate process of a letter going from the letterbox to Don’s house is shown, and the camera often focusses on the scenery and Don’s journey from place to place. So even though Don’s mystery isn’t solved in the 102 minutes, the film is still a thought-provoking ride down Don’s memory lane, and it is a good experience to share with him.

My Rating: 3.5/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 87%