MOVIE INFO:
Sylvia (Jessica Chastain) is a social worker who leads a simple and structured life: her daughter, her job, her AA meetings. This is blown open when Saul (Peter Sarsgaard) follows her home from their high school reunion. Their surprise encounter will profoundly impact both of them as they open the door to the past.
REVIEW:
Memory is about the past. Sylvia (Jessica Chastain) wants to forget the trauma of it. Saul (Peter Sarsgaard), who is suffering from dementia, is trying to hold on to it. The two meet, develop a friendship and then a romance.
Sylvia is a recovering alcholic who attends regular AA meetings and works at a group home for mentally disable adults. She lives with her daughter Anna (Brooke Timber) in one of those big and spacious industrial apartments that you only find in movies. Her fear from past traumas has her installing multiple locks on the entry door along with a security system. Screening guests, locking and relocking that door is her soothing ritual that protects her from the world’s evil.
At a high school reunion, Sylvia meets Saul, or more precisely he smiles at her, sits near her saying nothing and silently follows her from the subway to her apartment. The next day Sylvia finds Saul shivering among the street trash. A medical alert card lets Sylvia know that Saul is suffering from dementia and to call his brother, Isaac (Josh Charles). Saul lives in a brownstone with his brother and his daughter Sara (Elsie Fisher), who comes and goes whenever she pleases.
Soon, Sylvia begins taking care of Saul part-time. They becomes friends and eventually more. Their story is told elliptically by the director and screenwriter Michel Franco, flowing emotionally as Sylvia and Saul overcome their doubts, fears, and confront their trauma triggers. Their delusions eventually recede from the fog of mental confusion, the gaslighting of others into a reality that lets them coexist with each other and the world.
Chastain does a neat balancing act with her character. Her performance has a little bit of over study quality and can make her confusion and anxiety register as deception to others. It’s disconcerting but perfectly normal for a person in her mental state. Trauma can make some create a shield persona. In private scenes, we see Sylvia’s natural personality develop. We watch her fighting the anxiety, the addiction, the trauma trying to create a whole and totally worthy human being.
Franco gives Chastain an ending she can work with, one filled with tears, shouting and ugly, surprising revelations. If it feels like the finale of a mystery, it’s because her grand mystery has been revealed. It may seem contrived and manipulative, but it works. Sylvia knows the real truth and can finally acknowledge her pain.
Memory gets a 3.5/5.
CREDITS:
Directed by
Written by
Michel Franco
Produced by
- Michel Franco
- Eréndira Núñez Larios
- Alex Orlovsky
- Duncan Montgomery
Starring
- Jessica Chastain
- Peter Sarsgaard
- Merritt Wever
- Brooke Timber
- Elsie Fisher
- Josh Charles
- Jessica Harper
Cinematography
Edited by
- Oscar Figueroa
- Michel Franco
Production
companies
- Teorema
- High Frequency Entertainment
- Screen Capital
- MUBI
- Case Study Films
Distributed by
Release dates
- 8 September 2023(Venice)
- 22 December 2023(United States)
Running time
99 minutes[1]
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$100,000
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