Are you here for the cleaning?
Continuing my trip up The Guardian's Top 50 Films of 2021
#20 : After Love
Joanna Scanlan gives a tremendous performance as a Muslim convert, who agonisingly uncovers the secret life led by her late husband Ahmed, in a lacerating portrait of a life built on marital lies.
I've heard this is good and am actually quite looking forward to watching it. I only know Joanna Scanlan from The Thick Of It where she plays a fantastically stupid character - but she's really so stupid that you have to appreciate the acting that must be required! And then she went and won a BAFTA for this role, so I'm expecting some serious proper acting here.
And serious proper acting is very much what we get. She plays Mary, whose husband Ahmed dies at the start of the film, so the first 10 minutes are spent in mundane grief with minimal dialogue until she realises that maybe hubby was up to no good and she sets off on a trip. With minimal dialogue. And when we do finally get some dialogue, half of it is in French (and we also slip into Urdu at times as well)! The film allows itself to get into a somewhat contrived situation which isn't massively realistic but it actually works really well in terms of allowing us to share in Mary and others' confusion and grief. To be honest, not an awful lot happens but that doesn't really matter because the story is not really the point to the film (but there is one point where a suspected part of the back-story is confirmed in a particularly heart-breaking manner). It also has a lovely ending where everyone achieves a certain degree of peace and acceptance - I'm a sucker for a mostly happy ending (he's still dead though!).
Throughout the film, the camera is often kept still whilst the characters move around in it which generally works pretty well. It's Joanna Scanlon that carries the film and the acting she does when the camera stays on her is incredible - it really is a fantastic performance. She is ably supported by Nathalie Richard and Talid Ariss, but they don't have much to do in comparison.
One other thing I have to comment on is an incredible ten second scene where a crack appears in the ceiling for no obvious reason, but it's quite compelling watching the crack grow and the dust float through the air as it does. The camerawork and direction throughout the whole film is nicely understated and lend themselves well to the film and the final drone shot is very impressive indeed (and makes you feel quite inconsequential).
It's interesting to compare this with the previous film I watched because they're both somewhat theatrical, character driven films which concentrate on a small cast telling a story that I personally can't overly relate to. But where I found Passing to be admirable but not particularly enjoyable, I really enjoyed this one and found myself entranced by it - I really felt for Mary as we followed her in her grief.
So, I can't claim this film is a bundle of laughs but it is a hugely impressive piece of work - written and directed by Aleem Khan in his feature-length debut, marking him down as one to watch for the future. And it features a tour-de-force performance by Joanna Scanlon, fully deserving of her BAFTA.
At time of writing, it's available to rent on most of the usual channels - you'd have to be the mood for some serious viewing but I think it's well worth the effort.
Comments
Post a Comment