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%