Sylvia is a social worker who leads a simple and structured life. This is blown open when Saul follows her home from their high school reunion. Their surprise encounter will profoundly impact both...
With its profound and compassionate storytelling, writer-director Michel Franco‘s “Memory” is a beautiful film on so many levels. His story of loneliness, trauma, and connection between two broken people is a moving character study that’s filled with empathy and a poignant, tender humanity.
Sylvia (Jessica Chastain) leads a simple, structured life with her daughter. During the day, she works at a public facility in New York City and cares for adults struggling with mental health conditions and at night, she religiously attends her AA meetings. After being dragged by her sister to their high school reunion, Sylvia is approached by Saul (Peter Sarsgaard), and their interaction is less than friendly. She abruptly gets up to leave, but he follows her all the way home like a strange stalker. The next morning, Sylvia finds him outside her apartment, freezing and laying atop piles of garbage. It turns out that Saul is suffering from the early stages of dementia and had mistaken Silvia for his dead wife. This brings up a lot of painful memories of the past for both of them, and they develop an unusual relationship because of their encounter.
It’s a strange story about identity and trust that goes to unexpected places, especially when Sylvia drops the bombshell that Saul was one of the young men who assaulted her when she was in grade school. Franco delicately explores the unreliability of memory, recollection, and perception, which is something that can be fuzzy, distorted, or simply untrue. The characters are written with an affecting humanity, embracing the unique relationship with their own memories Saul is struggling to hold on to as many as possible, while Sylvia is trying so desperately to forget.
Elevated by an understated (and physical) performance from Sarsgaard, he tones down Chastain’s tendency to gravitate towards a more excessive and distracting acting style. They make an awkward screen pair, but it’s also creates the perfect bit of authentic discomfort between their two characters. Sarsgaard is sweet and soulful while Chastain is standoffish and needy, but they are two people who discover the surprising amount of refuge they find in each other. (I do think the film needed more time to develop a more believable romantic relationship, however).
There are heavy familial plot points about trauma, including Silvia’s deep pain and volatility in her relationship with her mother and Saul’s brother Isaac (Josh Charles), who is coming to terms with his sibling’s rapid decline. To this end, “Memory” is a story not only about basic human cognizance, but one of identity and vulnerability.
