WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
First, the Recap:
When someone we treasure is absent, there resides within us an innate yearning, an ache, an eagerness to see them return that we might have them close once again, especially knowing they’ve gone away to inherent danger. Yet, even when said peril has subsided, it only increases the insatiable need for them to come home–at least, that is what is wished for, isn’t it? It is June 1944, and such is the desire of a woman named Marguerite (Melanie Thierry) whose husband Robert (Emmanuel Bourdieu) has been immersed in the heart of French resistance against the remaining Nazi occupation of their country. However, Marguerite’s initial hopes for what might be accomplished become complicated upon learning that Robert has been arrested.
Managing to earn her way into an uneasy, enigmatic association with Pierre Rabier (Benoit Magimel), a French agent working for the Gestapo, Marguerite uses him to gain information about her husband, even as Rabier works to ascertain the whereabouts of French Resistance leadership , especially Francois Morland (Gregoire Leprince-Ringuet), through her. But, unanticipated news that Robert has been deported to Germany utterly shakes her to the core, throwing her emotional focus into chaos, even as she explores an illicit affair with a fellow resistance member, Dionys Mascolo (Benjamin Biolay). Still in love with Robert, the Liberation of Paris and war’s end turns Marguerite’s world into an interminable, harrowing, and soul-draining waiting game for his return, with no promises of desired release from her pining.
Next, my Mind:
As can be the case, rightfully, unapologetically, and often necessarily so this critic feels, with character-driven drama, it is a slow burn delivery, deep explorations of multiple thematic elements, and highly emotional content both subtle and palpable that all highlight this French export from screenplay/adaptation writer/director Emmanuel Finkiel, based on the novel by Marguerite Duras, which recently got chosen to represent France in the upcoming Oscars, deservedly so I might add. Taking the foundational groundwork found in depicting a country amidst the strife of war, the narrative hones its focus down from a global/national conflict to a distinctly intimate one, finding a heavy battle contained in one woman’s unsettled heart and spirit as she navigates the terrain of being a lonely wife yearning for her husband’s return while being a stalwart, patriotic member of the secretive yet adept French Resistance movement, all in between maintaining a delicate and precarious balancing act between two other men, one used as an informant, the other as a lover, even as she struggles to keep alive any true sense of self in taking it all on by choice, consequences notwithstanding.
It’s the fortitude one finds in desperate situations, willing to dive headlong into the dark, sacrificing personal safety and mental/emotional stability all for the sake of gaining the elusive object one desires. Yet, the toll it does in fact extract can be so overtly damaging that the end result of the efforts put forth may not yield the finality and answer to a heart’s wanting after all, as is illustrated with wrenching potency during the film’s second act and a punch-in-the-gut but effective finale. It might call into question the depths of true love and whether it can last through such a painfully jarring length of time, where answers are scarce, and experiencing the exhausting ups and downs of what’s real vs. what’s hearsay causes hope to flourish then despair to take its place, often within moments of each other. The cinematography is so wonderfully artful here, with an intentionality that first gives you a grander sense of a country still reeling from war before propelling the viewer headlong into a sole woman’s internal pain, the lens capturing the nuances on her face and body language with impactful visuals, making us live the stirring yet rigorous crusade she is on. It’s a study in the boundaries of the human soul and its ability to handle only so much strain before breaking, hanging on by the fingernails to any glimpse of expectation, even in the face of defeat.
Well established in French cinema with just a little dabble in mainstream Hollywood-style fare (2008’s “Babylon A.D.“), Thierry continues to grow and excel with a fantastically, purposefully muted then explosive performance as Marguerite, a talented writer and woman on the edge, whose own grip on sanity remains questionable at times as she delves into an ambiguous game to find out information about her incarcerated husband by any means needed, even as she shoulders the burden of love for her absent spouse while finding immediate comfort in the arms of another. The further she moves forward in learning about Robert’s unexpected deportation, the more unhinged within she becomes, for even after the war has concluded on its large scale, the one inside grows to a fever pitch, as her dream of seeing Robert again fades and reappears and fades again as news about the liberation of Nazi camps is heard and survivors begin to arrive. It’s a prolonged suffering that’s at times hard to take in, as Thierry so fervently encompasses the myriad of emotions associated with Marguerite’s plight, and the heart bleeds for her in the overwhelming vastness of it being deftly portrayed on such a realistic and personal level by Thierry.
Magimel embodies the intricacies and underlying nuances of a man everyone would love to distrust in his portrayal of Pierre Rabier, a Frenchman who’s made a choice to serve his own country’s occupiers in being employed by the Gestapo as an agent out to undermine and expose the French Resistance. Choosing in particular to exploit Marguerite’s insistence on knowing about her husband’s arrest and the treatment he’s receiving, Rabier plays along so innocently with her requests even as he makes every attempt to get her to spill details on those within the Resistance ranks. His clandestine methods and quietly menacing manner all serve the purpose, but we can see his infatuation with Marguerite might actually end up being his own undoing, used more by her than her by him. Magimel presents this with excellent resolve. Biolay likewise offers a wonderfully subdued enactment through his role as French Resistance member Dionys Mascolo, a figure that seems to come and go in and out of Marguerite’s sphere of existence with the same amount of measured scrutiny and caution as when attending a Resistance meeting. Yet, then there are the brief but poignant moments where we realize just how much he is watching out for her during such ardent times, though still one must wonder at the fact he’s making efforts to be that source of friendly comfort yet engaging in and encouraging their affair, even if completely unspoken and subtle for the most part. We also see his own deep loyalty of country, however, so there’s an interesting polarity to his actions and intentions occurring here that Biolay absolutely nails with calculated precision.
Supporting turns are presented by Bourdieu as Marguerite’s longsuffering husband Robert, who often remains unseen, rather present through the words and descriptions shared by her writings, conversations, and flashback-inspired reminiscing, but does visually appear during several key moments and Leprince-Ringuet as famed Resistance leader Francois Morland (which was actually the cover name for his real identity, Francois Mitterrand) who’s being hunted by Rabier and the Nazi regime. Additional support is offered through Patrick Lizana as Resistance member Georges Beauchamp, Anne-Lise Heimburger as Madame Bordes, a woman waiting like Marguerite for her husband’s return, Shulamit Adar as Madame Katz, another woman waiting for news of her daughter that Marguerite shelters, along with many, many others including an appearance by a personal friend, actor Pierre Glenat. In total, “Memoir of War” is certainly a film well within the Academy’s wheelhouse with its dramatic intensity, well-adapted narrative, wonderful performances, and a high emotional quotient that emphasizes the rumor vs. fact, acceptance vs. denial, joy vs. loss mentalities it displays with such gripping, impassioned grace.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
Thank you very much Kirk for this great article : very finely and deeply analyzed, with great sensitivity and communicating this intense emotion of the writer, the director and the performers !