I wasn’t sure what to expect from this film. Gerard Depardieu and Isabelle Huppert are superb as they usually are. The cinematography is beautiful and the settings in Death Valley, California, stunning. The director, Guillaume Nicloux , is one of the worlds finest. The plot appears interesting. A divorced couple meet up in Death Valley to follow a pre-arranged programme, set up by their son who had just committed suicide, after a depression which he seems to have partly blamed of their neglect of him as a child.
And thats about it. Whether from the heat, or drugs or just psychological manipulation by their dead son, both have an experience of his presence.
But it was a really disappointing night. The worst thing about this film is that it is boring and somewhat pretentious. Ultimately in questions of life and death the European and American middle classes have nothing to offer. Confused and broken lives are not healed by materialism, new age spirituality or cynical pretentious philosophising. This film had real potential to look at real issues in real depth. It failed.
Marks out of ten? three….and thats because of the cinematography!