A One Mann’s Movies review of “Memory” (2023) (from the London Film Festival).
This was a film that I saw at the London Film Festival but which is now in UK cinemas. So I’m republishing this review.
One of the joys of attending a film festival like this is in not knowing anything about the films you are about to watch. I was about to write this review to include reference to the actors Sally Field and Billy Bob Thornton. A good job I didn’t, since these actors are Jessica Harper and Josh Philip Weinstein!
Once again, I saw this at the Film Critic screenings prior to the opening of the London Film Festival.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
Plot Summary:
Sylvia (Jessica Chastain) has been attending AA meetings for 13 years. As the film starts she attends her anniversary meeting with her daughter Anna (Brooke Timber). She is very nervous character, triple-locking her New York apartment door and setting the alarm. Although close to her sister (Elsie Fisher), she is estranged from her mother (Jessica Harper). Attending a reunion for her high-school, Woodbury High, she is not engaging in the revelry and leaves early. But a man, Saul (Peter Sarsgaard), follows her all the way home leading to an unravelling of events that neither of them could have expected.
Certification:
UK: 15; US: R. (From the BBFC web site – “Child sexual abuse references”).
Talent:
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Peter Sarsgaard, Elsie Fisher, Josh Philip Weinstein, Brooke Timber, Jessica Harper, Josh Charles.
Directed by: Michel Franco.
Written by: Michel Franco.
Twitter Handle: -.
Sharing a soggy moment. Peter Saarsgard and Jessica Chastain. (Source: MUBI).
“Memory” Review:
Positives:
- The set up for the film is pretty neat. The scenes where Saul follows her home is as creepy as hell. You have no idea what is going on or why the man, soaking wet and draped into a tyre on the doorstep, is there.
- Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard act well together and many of their scenes – a bath scene for example – are very touching. Also great is Brooke Timber, in her movie debut, as the daughter and peacemaker Anna. This is a young lady worth keeping an eye on. Some of the mother/daughter exchanges are fun and natural: “What would you do with a boyfriend” teases Sylvia. “Forget it!” replies Anna with a delightful twinkle and a blush.
- I liked Sylvia’s hatred and bitter vitreol as “the truth” is revealed (great acting by Chastain). That’s before there’s a twist and we head in a different direction. (I was frankly invested in that story and seeing how that developed, before the rug got unceremoniously pulled).
Negatives:
- The film feels like a whole smash of ideas that don’t quite come together as a cohesive whole. There’s an acute family drama unravelling; an obviously doomed lover affair; a struggle for self-respect and control over oncoming dementia.
- A histrionic family meeting just didn’t ring true at all for me.
- Saul’s condition seems to be conveniently selective. Maybe it was based on a true representation of his particular type of dementia? But some ‘new’ stuff he seems to remember (Anna, for example after a significant period apart) and some he seems to forget.
- Here is another entry for the Bob Mann book of “Unrealistic sex scenes”. In this example, Saul gets naked and Sylvia gets naked (hidden) from the waist down but her top stays firmly on. With no attempts by Saul to release those Chastain puppies! Sorry, but who does that? And you call that foreplay Saul? (Now maybe that IS more realistic in most relationships!)
Triggers
There are aspects of the story related to stalking, sexual assualt and paedophilia that might be triggering for some viewers.
At the Venice Film Festival: Michel Franco, Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard. (Source: Variety.com).
Summary Thoughts on “Memory”
I found this a slightly frustrating watch. Aspects of the film are really good and enjoyable and Chastain and Sarsgaard are a class act. With some simplification and streamlining there is a great film somewhere in here. But I’m afraid, for me, this cut came over as a bit ‘all over the place’.
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Trailer for “Memory”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeLbykMmLho .
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