‘Memory Review: Jessica Chastain And Peter Sarsgaard Are Riveting As Broken People Fumbling For Connection In Michel Francos Moving Drama

Memory, the title of Michel Franco's laser play about trauma and connection, reflects past experience, inevitably real or distorted, repressed or forever lost, only occasionally accessible through the fog or begging to be forcefully taken into account. Although hope is a quality not always associated with the work of Mexican writers, it continues to emerge here, extending the path of life even as we wait for the other shoe to drop. In this sense, Franco's latest film deviates somewhat without sacrificing the director's signature sharpness and intensity. He gets a lot of help from Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard, two compelling leads who don't hold anything back.

Directed by cinematographer Franco Yves Kiep, this laid-back film captures the texture of the Brooklyn locations and clearly defines the characters' worlds. He is assisted by actors including Merritt Weaver and Josh Charles; Jessica Harper is welcomed to the lead role. Elsie Fisher's Revelation for Eighth Grade ; and relative newcomer Brooke Timbers, a promising teenager whose maturation was accelerated by being stuck in the chaos of youth.

Chastain plays Sylvia, a three-year sober, recovering alcoholic in a mental hospital. A sheltered and clearly traumatized single mother lives with her daughter Anna (Timber) and keeps such a watchful eye on her that the teenager complains that she is the only girl in her class without a boyfriend.

At a high school reunion, where she is dragged along by her married younger sister Olivia (Waver), Sylvia is enraged when classmate Saul (Sarsgaard) approaches her. This causes her to run away, and he scares her by following her house on the subway and bursting through the front door of her apartment building. When she discovers Saul still unconscious after being out in the freezing rain all night, Sylvia calls an acquaintance, her brother Isaac (Charles), to come get him.

Disturbed by this encounter, Sylvia approaches Saul and tells him about the events at school that have affected him forever. But Saul suffers from dementia, and while his memories of the distant past are mostly better than recent events, high school is mostly a blur. It turns out that Sylvia's memories of this time aren't entirely accurate either, so when Isaac's daughter Sarah (Fisher) asks her if she'd be willing to help take care of Saul before she goes back to college, she agrees.

As they begin to spend more time together, the growing closeness between Sylvia and Saul reveals their shared loneliness.

Chastain and Sarsgaard bring enormous pathos to the mixture of caution and need with which they navigate their uncertain relationship. There are poignant moments, such as his joy at the organ riff in "White Shadow of Pale" and his gentle humor when he sadly admits that watching a movie is a futile exercise for him because he can't remember the beginning. The film develops from the moment it ends.

Both actors dramatize their characters' nervous dances with trust issues with a touch of emotional honesty; The same can be said about their wild awkwardness when relationships become physical. Changes in Sylvia's carefully planned daily routine disturb her, and Isaac intervenes to prevent her from meeting her brother.

In a related theme that ultimately continues Sylvia's time with Saul, traumatic childhood experiences are revealed as exposed nerves when she accidentally discovers that her estranged mother, Samantha (Harper), has been in touch with Anna through her teenage aunt. The disturbing elements of sexual violence, denial, silence and guilt are familiar to many films of this thematic nature. But the intense interaction between the assembled women creates truly disturbing and touching moments.

Whether the budding bond between Sylvia and Saul will be strong enough to withstand it all is a central question that Franco and his actors handle with grace. The director's stylistic minimalism - it can be almost dogmatic - very effectively enhances attention to the inner life of the characters, their intense cycle of emotions.

Sarsgaard is particularly strong here, perfectly conveying Saul's vulnerability and his stunned confusion as he suddenly loses his temper, but still evokes moments of strength and confidence.

Chastain can sometimes rely a little on guile to show the underlying characterization work, and Franco's writing has a hint of textbook psychological exploration, such as Sylvia's development into a compulsive cleaning lady who she can control when her balance is threatened. : But Chastain's performance contains a lot of pain and years of fortified walls of anger that Sylvia built around herself. The caution with which he approaches difficult situations makes it clear that faith does not come easy to him.

Memento is perhaps Franco's most likeable film and his best English-language film since Chronicle and Sunset . You root for Sylvia and Saul to overcome the many obstacles in their path and find solace in each other, which is a sharp departure from the grim finality for which the director's work is best known.