★ 5 / 10
Touching, but very flawed.
Davalon-Davalon
Despite this movie's charms, and there are many, I found it ultimately troublesome. We are asked to believe that "Claude" (Bruce Dern, in another of his…
Despite this movie's charms, and there are many, I found it ultimately troublesome.
We are asked to believe that "Claude" (Bruce Dern, in another of his extremely appealing "grumpy old men" roles that echo his performance in "Nebraska"), now somewhere in his 80s, a "theater critic" (I didn't believe this for five seconds) and a widower, with an adult daughter "Selma" (Sienna Guillory) in a troubled marriage, and a granddaughter "Tania" (Serena Kennedy), goes to his editor's office to discuss some article he wrote (or wants to write). The editor, in a long, convoluted scene, explains why Claude's current article can't be printed in the newspaper, but it can be published in a digital version of the newspaper.
An assistant shows him what the digital version looks like as if Claude had never seen or imagined such a thing. (I'm sorry, but even if the man is in his 80s, he has been around technology for the last 40 years and he'd most likely have an iPad; in fact, he has an iPhone which he knows how to use quite well.)
While the assistant scrolls through the digital pages, an image flashes before Claude's eyes: "Lilian" (Caroline Silhol, in an arresting, but slightly stilted performance). It seems that Lilian was a beautiful French actress that Claude fell in love with years ago. But Lilian was married and finally she had to break things off with Claude and, I guess, Claude then married another woman (never referred to by name, never with any indication of her image or the life she lived or the importance she may have had in Claude's life) and they had "Selma."
Claude learns that Lilian is (conveniently) living in a nearby retirement community and that she has Alzheimer's. Claude, with the help of his reluctant buddy "Shane" (Brian Cox, who might be the best actor in the film), decides he will feign Alzheimer's so he can live at the retirement community and coax Lilian back to a lucid state, using her favorite flowers, favorite song and an amateur production of a play where she gave her greatest performance. He does this by assuring Shane that Lilian's husband is dead. This is the only way that Shane will help him.
But, surprise: Lilian's husband "David" (Ben Temple) is not dead and he checks in on her on occasion. But by this point Claude is ensconced in the retirement community (after lying to his daughter, and then, later found out by his granddaughter) and working his "magic" on Lilian.
Shane is furious at Claude for lying to him about Lilian being a widow. Claude verbally attacks him, shouting that the husband "never loved" Lilian and "doesn't care" about her like he does.
This is when the movie fell totally apart for me. If Claude was so invested in his old love affair with Lilian, why didn't he keep tabs on her? Also, if he had married, had a child and what amounts to a full life, and wasn't in touch with Lilian for decades, how could he possibly know that the husband "never loved" Lilian? It was completely unbelievable and made me hate everything that came prior to that point.
The movie plays out predictably, with Lilian's memory of her greatest performance rushing back to her, to the point she usurps the amateur production and gets up on stage and recites her lines as if she had just spoken them the day before. She then remembers Claude, and they have their big moment where he inexplicably kisses her on her nose, not her lips.
Later they "disappear," and the staff rushes around and discovers them dancing to "Embraceable You." Yes, it's sweet, it's touching, it's charming, and Lilian's huge, expressive eyes will touch the heart of anyone who isn't dead inside.
But the whole time I couldn't stop thinking: Okay, Claude, you had a life with someone. We never hear her name or see her picture, even though she was the mother of your child. So, did you stay with her for 30 years because that was your best option? And... did you just assume that Lilian's "burning love" for you survived decades and that she didn't have anyone in her life that loved her?
On a fantasy level, this movie had a certain element of charm. But in reality, I don't see that it could have happened.
Also, there were many staff members working at the retirement community. Almost all of them were people of color. This may, in fact, be the most real element of this film. That said, early on in the film, a beautiful Black woman who works at the community introduces herself to Claude as "Zephyr." Okay, great name, but then she disappears for the rest of the film, never to be seen again. Why this was an important moment that had to be in the movie, I don't know, but somehow the director/producer felt it was essential.
I'm thrilled to see older actors get opportunities, but I wish they didn't have to be associated with Alzheimer's, retirement homes, and diaper jokes.
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