A family implodes in the wake of a scandal.
Beautifully shot and achingly acted film should have been one of the best films of the year but an obtuse and telling and a refusal to be clear on details until the second half of the film makes this largely a time waster.
The write up simply says it"revolves around Astrid , the wife of an acclaimed lawyer. Silenced for 25 years, her family balance suddenly collapses when her children initiate their own search for justice." adding it was based on a true story. The film is really about the father being a child abuser and one of his children looking for justice in the wake of a criminal case.
Not that you really know that for a chunk of the film. No one says a hell of a lot and when they do (especially in the first half of the film), it's not really referencing what exactly is going on. We know something happened, hence the media attention, but what it is we aren't told.
I don't mind being spoon fed or having to work things out for myself, but things aren't really clear, more so since there is a fractured narrative, which isn't clear out of the box. I really wasn't sure what is going on. Frankly I am still not certain of a lot of it.
Whose idea was it not to give us any bread crumbs?
By the half hour point I had so disconnected from the film that by the time we started to get details and things (kind of) started to go together I really didn't care.
This is a well made art house film that is much too clever for its own good.
Pass on this one
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