Memory, 2023.
Written and Directed by Michel Franco.
Starring Jessica Chastain, Peter Sarsgaard, Merritt Wever, Josh Charles, Elsie Fisher, Jessica Harper, Brooke Timber, Jackson Dorfmann, Alexis Rae Forlenza, Elizabeth Loyacano, Josh Philip Weinstein, and Mia Mei Williamson.
SYNOPSIS:
Sylvia is a social worker who leads a simple and structured life. This is blown open when Saul follows her home from their high school reunion. Their surprise encounter will profoundly impact both of them as they open the door to the past.
When Jessica Chastain’s Sylvia and Peter Sarsgaard’s Saul properly privately converse in Memory for the first time following an uneasy scare the night before where the early onset dementia-stricken latter followed the former home (same subway route and all), she reveals the horrifying reason why she believes he did so. Anyone familiar with writer/director Michel Franco will be bracing themselves for more shock value that may or may not have substance. The filmmaker then spends the next 80 minutes, give or take, subverting those expectations into an emotionally stirring romance born out of their respective conditions and trauma, with quiet, gentle but powerful chemistry between these leads.
Sylvia has suffered from a history of sexual abuse that caused her to become estranged from her mother, Samantha (Jessica Harper), and embedded into a lengthy battle with alcohol addiction that she was able to quell when the birth of her now 13-year-old daughter Anna (Brooke Timber) came. Her mind is faulty in a different way, in where she accuses Saul of being a boy who often helped another boy assault her when they were 17 and she was 12, verbally blowing up on the man as he calmly sits there unaware of what to say, whether it’s because he never actually did these things or he doesn’t remember them. That mystery is cleared up instantly when Sylvia’s sister Olivia (Merritt Wever) looks into some public records and discovers that he didn’t move into the city and enroll there until the year she changed schools.
Meanwhile, Saul’s brother Isaac (Josh Charles) tells Sylvia, who also works at an adult daycare center, that she would make a good caretaker for him and that one will be needed since his daughter Sara (Elsie Fisher) is off to college. Again, when that suggestion comes in, there is that instant hesitation and pause for concern that Michel Franco is only trying to concoct the most grotesque, triggering dynamic imaginable. Even if he had gone that route, Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard probably still would have found something emotionally raw, revealing, and riveting there; that’s how captivating they are on screen together.
Rather than go down that bleak and dour route, Memory not only follows these two characters as they naturally grow closer but how Sylvia’s trauma and past have made her the adult and justifiably overprotective mother she is today. Throughout the film, Anna knows that she shouldn’t even bother asking her mom if she can go to parties or on a date with the boy she likes (even though he regularly visits their house), aware of what the answer will be. One day Anna might understand why and the truth will devastate her (without getting into spoilers, the horrors of her mom’s past are somehow more painful and disturbing than what is mentioned above.)
Eventually, Sylvia’s mom comes into town, shedding light on the family dynamic in unsettling ways, seemingly having cast aside her daughter because of this past, to the point of nonchalantly taking it out on Anna (she brings gifts for all the grandchildren, but her) while also pretending she loves her daughters and granddaughters equally. She is also manipulating Anna to ask questions about her mom’s past. Simultaneously, Isaac disapproves of how much time Saul wants to spend with Sylvia, dehumanizing him and insisting that he doesn’t know what he is doing because of dementia, which doesn’t seem to be affecting their budding romance at all beyond his inability to process various entertainment mediums (a sad sequence in itself) and wander off while forgetting what he is doing.
The supporting performances from the closest things to villains in Memory could use a bit more nuance. There is also the feeling that the film doesn’t have much of a place to go narratively. Considering how immensely moving the performances are here, that’s not much of a fault. It is compelling watching these characters fall for one another, Anna discovering some horrifying truths about her mother’s past (there is a beautifully tender scene where she comforts her upon learning, with Brooke Timber impressive throughout), a depressing glimpse into how sexual abuse sometimes gets covered up within a family, and whether or not circumstances will allow them to be together.
By the time Sylvia and Saul are embracing one another in a bathtub, following a tense confrontation pressing their heads together, the love is beyond earned, and they are together because no one else can see these two people like they see each other. That’s the specific, beautiful love Memory is about.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
