Memory: Movie Review

Cast: Jessica Chastain, Peter Sarsgaard, Josh Charles

Director: Michel Franco

There's a complexity to director Michel Franco's Memory, a film which addresses some darker themes in a sensitive and moving manner.

Oscar winner Chastain plays Sylvia, a single mother recovering from alcoholism and estranged from her own mother. Navigating a complicated relationship between the two of them, Sylvia's sister Celia persuades her to come to a reunion, despite her protestations.

On leaving the party, she's followed home by a man, Saul, (Sarsgaard) who ends up spending the night outside her house....

To say more about Memory's plot is to rob it of some of its elements of surprise and its seismic revelations.

Needless to say it is impeccably acted by both Sarsgaard and Chastain, a pair whose chemistry is palpable but also whose lived-in experiences feel raw, real yet grounded throughout.

As elements of the story reveal themselves like an onion, there's a temptation to overplay the dramatic edges but director Michel Franco wisely holds back from over-egging elements and pushing it into the melodrama.

It's a decision that pays off handsomely as Memory with its twists and subtle edges plays out. By keeping a close rein on proceedings and a tight eye on the histrionics of the drama, Memory does much to stay long in the memory after the lights have gone up.