X
- 2023
- R
- Ketchup Entertainment
- 1 h 43 m
- 2023
- R
- Ketchup Entertainment
- 1 h 43 m
Summary Sylvia (Jessica Chastain) is a social worker who leads a simple and structured life. 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.
Directed By: Michel Franco
- 2023
- R
- Ketchup Entertainment
- 1 h 43 m
- 2023
- R
- Ketchup Entertainment
- 1 h 43 m
Memory
71
7.6
Where to Watch
Summary Sylvia (Jessica Chastain) is a social worker who leads a simple and structured life. 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.
Directed By: Michel Franco
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 31 Critic Reviews
71
84% Positive
26 Reviews
26 Reviews
16% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 31 Critic Reviews
71
84% Positive
26 Reviews
26 Reviews
16% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Memory invites debate, rather than imposing a specific interpretation. It’s also a film that lingers, shifting and expanding in significance, even as the details start to blur.
Chastain and Sarsgaard give a pair of haunting, expert performances as damaged people making sense of their own agony together. Franco gets out of the way of his actors without manipulating them.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 17 User Ratings
7.6
82% Positive
14 Ratings
14 Ratings
18% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 17 User Ratings
7.6
82% Positive
14 Ratings
14 Ratings
18% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
“Memory”, a beautiful and interesting film, talks to us about those who don't remember and those who want to forget. An (im)possible, dramatic and heartbreaking love story, based on the fragility of memories and the uncertainty about the reasons of the two protagonists - excellently played by Chastain and Sarsgaard. A complex relationship is established between the two: their differences are an initial obstacle to mutual empathy, but over time it is precisely the possibility of seeing in each other people disconnected from their past that brings them closer in an unexpected way. He can't remember, she would just like to forget: two different perspectives on the theme of memory that become central in Michel Franco's drama. «I wanted to make a film about people who get lost in society. Their inability, or unwillingness, to conform to expectations is often rooted in facts that exist only in their memories. Sometimes it is marginalization itself that offers an escape from the shadows of the past, a chance to build a life in the present». These are the director's words, but also the right summary to express the meaning of this introspective and exciting film. The solid and thoughtful screenplay, rich in psychological nuances, gradually reveals memories, traumas, awareness and acceptances. And the visual elegance of the work is combined with a balanced emotionality (physical or verbal violence is always portrayed from a certain distance, with a certain alienating coldness in the way it is shot but not in its intensity). Less dark, even sweet in its romantic tragedy, this work is the story of two lives incapable or reluctant to conform to expectations and lost in the meshes of society. An approach that opens up new perspectives for the director's future, one of the most interesting authorial perspectives of recent years. Volpi Cup for best male performance to Peter Sarsgaard at the 80th Venice Film Festival (but Chastain was also very deserving).
Report
How we remember our past is something we can all bank on, right? Or is it? For instance, what happens when mitigating influences impact our memory, potentially causing it to become fallible and untrustworthy? Can we truly rely on our recall then? Those are among the questions raised in the unconventional new romantic thriller from writer-director Michel Franco. The film follows the life of Sylvia, a recovering alcoholic with a troubled past (Jessica Chastain), who’s unexpectedly (and alarmingly) followed home from her high school reunion by an alleged former classmate, Saul (Peter Sarsgaard), whom she believes sexually molested her at that time. She’s troubled by this latest development and questions his motives about it, which even he doesn’t understand, especially when it’s revealed that he suffers from dementia. And, in an added twist, it turns out that Sylvia’s recall about her supposed past interaction with him is foggy, something that’s not entirely surprising in light of her history. This revelation changes everything, and an entirely new relationship between them emerges, particularly when it comes to each of them helping one another sort of their respective pasts and begin the healing process. This includes the exposure of an array of additional developments and the persistence of some still-unresolved ambiguities, all of which emerge through a skillfully crafted narrative, effectively brought to life with the superb performances of Sarsgaard and Independent Spirit Award nominee Chastain. Admittedly, the picture’s first half could benefit from some stepped-up pacing, most notably the elimination of some sequences that are occasionally redundant and innately tiresome. However, the intrigue and engagement ramp up significantly in the picture’s back end, making up for much of the tedium in the opening act. Some of this is ironically accomplished through deftly handled nuance and subtlety, qualities that the filmmaker employs far more skillfully in the second half than in the first, where these traits are virtually obscured by prevailing understatement. Clearly, this is one of those releases that requires the viewer to give it some time to develop, but the payoff for doing so is worth it in the end. If nothing else, “Memory” provides us with a fresh perspective on its central theme while showing us how “like can cure like” in a psychological **** process, an approach that can yield rewards beyond measure.
Report
In a film that could have bowed to easy clichés, Chastain and Sarsgaard are a class act — their touching, tactile chemistry is the film’s triumph.
The direct, intimate way in which the movie is filmed and acted, however, makes it an affecting study of two people’s attempts to forge some kind of relationship despite huge psychic damage on both sides.
Told through a humanist lens, it never resorts to simple sentimentality.
The film reveals itself as a prototypical yet surprisingly tender love story between two damaged people re-learning how to move through a world that’s unable to adequately support them.
Chastain reliably holds the screen even if her performance often feels overly studied rather than lived in, never more so than in her scenes with Sarsgaard, whose delicate, quicksilver expressiveness appreciably deepens both the movie and its stakes. You don’t always believe in Sylvia and Saul as a couple, but Sarsgaard makes you want to.
Memory is a heartbreaking movie. Every memory loss movie makes me sad. Forgetting your precious memories is more painful than physical pain. On the other hand, some memories you cannot but want to forget hunt you forever. The allegory in the movie is unbearable.
Report
Jessica Chastain plays a glum social worker haunted by her past. She connects with a man with dementia (Peter Sarsgaard) after he follows her home from their high school reunion. Their encounter dredges up family issues as it develops into a relationship. Writer/director Michel Franco seems to fascinated by these subjects (his film Chronic covers similar territory my review) and he's created an interesting story, even with its flaws. Of course, the actors all turn in beautifully nuanced performances, but his pacing and use of wide shots keep the drama from having as much emotional impact. Despite all the discomfort that these 2 damaged characters face, the duo are the best reason to watch this film dealing with difficult subjects in a low-key manner.
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Production Company
High Frequency Entertainment,
Teorema,
Case Study Films,
MUBI,
Screen Capital,
The Match Factory
Release Date Dec 22, 2023
Duration 1 h 43 m
Rating R
Genres
Awards
Venice Film Festival
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
Casting Society of America, USA
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Film Independent Spirit Awards
• 1 Nomination
