Memory Review – Palpable Emotion, Strong Story Driven Performances

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Category: Film

Published on Tuesday, 19 December 2023 12:17

Written by Janet Walker

Memory, from Ketchup Entertainment, presents a poignant journey of two lost souls, one who is burdened by distressing memories and the other who is confronting a slow cognitive decline and is unable to recall any emotional connection.

The film, which screened at AFI Film Festival 2023, opens in an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, with rows of chairs filled with people from all walks of life, all sitting in a half-lite, meeting hall still carrying the burden of alcoholism and the damage to themselves and others. As the camera pans the room, a woman, Sylvia, played by Jessica Chastain, is reciting the serenity prayer, along with the others.

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As she goes through her daily existence, it is obvious that at one point there was a fall out. Although, the audience is left to believe it was the effects of the addiction. She decides to attend her high school reunion, and the director again creates the scene where she appears extremely socially awkward, and uncomfortable which again is attributed to her alcoholic addiction.

It is here that she is approached by Saul, played by Peter Sarsgaard. While she does her best to repel his simple meaningless party conversation advances, even to the point of leaving, he follows her, which builds tension, as she appears frightened by her own shadow and he in dogged pursuit.

He follows her onto the subway, in the same subway car, and exiting at the same stop. She manages to get inside her home, before a massive rainstorm, he however, remains outside, in the rain. The next morning, he is sitting on a tire, covered in a plastic bag, without any knowledge of his whereabouts, location or even his name.

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Sylvia, who works with the mentally challenged, seems to recognize the cognitive issues, and once he produces his wallet, she arranges for his family to come and get him. This is when the layers of the story begin to unravel.

We also understand more about Sylvia’s mental torment, which drove her to numb the pain through alcoholism. Her encounter with Saul, is initially seen as a God send to his family, as she as experience working with the disabled. Their relationship develops, which challenges his family, and the rigidness of her existence. There are some tense moments, as he stays over at her apartment and his short-term memory loss causes him to forget which bedroom belongs to Sylvia and which belongs to her daughter, Anna, played by Brooke Timber.

We also meet Sylvia’s sister, Olivia, played by Merritt Wever, who we find out is stuck in the middle between her sister, Sylvia's determined effort to confront the past and the acknowledgment of truth, and her mother, Samantha, played by Jessica Harper, effort to keep the door to the past locked. With so many hidden secrets, they are on a collision course with the truth, no matter the cost.

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Memory, premiered in Competition at the 80th Venice Film Festival earning an eight-minute standing ovation, with Sarsgaard going on to receive the Volpi Cup for Best Actor from the Jury. It also screened to great acclaim at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The director, Michel Franco, was able to create a visual palette, with layered colors and tones, that provided as much information in the scenes, without the dialogue as with dialogue. The film has an intensity about it that quite possibly was hampered by the dialogue. The audiences are able to feel a palpable emotional intensity in some of the scenes that when dialogue is introduced negates the depth.

Palpable emotion, Memory delivers strong story driven performances.

Memory is in limited release beginning December 22, 2023, and will be released wide January 5, 2024. See it.

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Country: U.S.

Language: English.

Runtime: 100 minutes.

Director: Michel Franco.

Producer: Michel Franco, Eréndira Núñez Larios, Alex Orlovsky, Duncan Montgomery.

Writer: Michel Franco.

Cast: Jessica Chastain, Peter Sarsgaard, Brooke Timber, Merritt Wever, Elsie Fisher, Jessica Harper, Josh Charles.