David O'ConnellMIFF 2010: The Day Will Come/Apart Together
July 30th 2010 01:52
The Day Will Come
Susanne Schneider’s feature debut is a compelling drama of a family corrupted, and its stability compromised by the sound of a dark secret tumbling out of their closet. Jean-Marc (Jacques Frantz), his wife Judith (Iris Berben), and their two teenage children live an idyllic life in rural France, close to the German border.
One day a young woman, Alice (Katharina Schuttler), appears on their doorstep with a concocted story of having been in a minor car accident nearby. She relies on the husband’s generosity for an invitation to stay the night to recuperate. But she has an ulterior motive for being in this exact location. Her gentle probing hones in on Judith in particular and her revelation will ultimately send shockwaves through the family causing a potentially fatal divide.
Schneider’s screenplay hooks us from the start with its intriguing set-up and never relinquishes its hold despite its single location being a possible limitation. Films that place characters into direct conflict with the concealed misdeeds of their past are a dime a dozen but The Day Will Come is a rare exception in being able to sustain its intensity and the genuinely thought-provoking, adult subject matter it raises.
The film’s credibility is heightened by the intensity of its performances, especially those of Berber and the forceful Schuttler who makes the strongest impression. Riveting and unpredictable until its final frame, The Day Will Come is a first-class drama about the devisive real-world constraints of moral fortitude and the complexities of every choice we make in life.
Apart Together
Apart Together is a moving, affectionate portrait of lives that forge on despite bearing the lacerations of China’s troubled past. Over 50 years ago during the Chinese civil war, members of the Nationalist Army were forced to retreat to Taiwan, effectively abandoning their lives on the spot. Yang-sheng (Ling Feng) was one such soldier who left the love of his life in limbo, forbidden from returning by the Chinese government. Now, years later after the death of his Taiwanese wife, he is allowed to returned to Shanghai where he wants to reclaim Yu-e (Lisa Lu) back despite the fact that she has a loyal husband, Lu (Xu Caigen) and grown family of her own.
It’s a bittersweet reunion for Yu-e; although she considered Yang-sheng her soulmate, and was carrying his child at the time, she finds it difficult to imagine shrugging off her marriage and children as if they were just part of some elaborate time-filling exercise. Her children rally against the idea, morally outraged, and yet the amiable Lu is content to take this new development in his stride as if no more tumultuous than the need to go shopping for a new pair of socks.
Wang Quanan’s film was not unjustly awarded the best screenplay award at Berlin earlier this year. It’s a beautifully judged piece, relying on old-fashioned virtues in characterisations brought to life by strong performances. The backbone of the film is its many communal scenes around a dinner table in which a tender devotion to food exemplifies the spirit that binds this family together. Lengthy static shots encompassing as many as ten people are testament to Wang’s masterful, minimalist approach. One particular scene towards the end, a spirited, single 15 minute take, is a magnificent centrepiece as the three central characters regale one another with tales from the distant past and regularly break into song.
Apart Together is not without a wonderful sense of humour either, especially in the more spiteful interactions between family members. The absurdities of Chinese bureaucracy are also played for laughs.
In the end Yu-e's choice - if it really is hers to make - comes down to a moral conundrum weighing up a blissful affair from the past with the immovable loyalty of the decades that followed. Do we finally allow old wounds to heal over or do we chance the creation of fresh ones because it might be the only way forward? This gentle, disarming and incredibly poignant film makes it quite clear that the answers to life’s most troubling questions are never as clear cut as we might hope.
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
I think i will need to visit The Day Will Come.
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic