Memory

Mexico’s Michel Franco unexpectedly delivers a New York love story which is different but unconvincing.

Peter Sarsgaard and Jessica Chastain

Memory is an English language drama written and directed by the Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco. Prior to seeing this new piece, I had seen only two films of his – Chronic (2015) and New Order (2020) – but their power was such that I became a strong admirer of his work. Indeed, for a film seen almost ten years ago Chronic remains extraordinarily vivid while in addition it offered clear proof that Franco’s skills were in no way limited to filming in Mexico with Mexican actors. Consequently, I approached Memory with the highest expectations and these were further bolstered by knowing that Peter Sarsgaard had been awarded the Volpi Cup at the 2023 Venice Film Festival for his performance in it. But in the event I was hugely disappointed.

In finding Memory a film unworthy of the talent of the actors in it I am not alone, but this New York tale also has its admirers. Those who acclaim it clearly find that the story that it tells convinces, but for me Franco’s screenplay never creates people and situations in which I can believe. At heart - and in contrast to Franco’s previous work - the film is a love story and one that brings in issues that have dramatic potential which give the tale a character of its own. But this can't work meaningfully unless one finds the central couple and their relationship credible.

We meet Sylvia first and she is played by Jessica Chastain. We see her with her teenage daughter Anna (Brooke Timber) attending an AA meeting but learn that Sylvia has overcome her alcoholism and has not taken a drink for the thirteen years since Anna was born. She now works at an adult care centre near her Brooklyn home but it is when she attends a high school reunion that she becomes aware of a man who seems to want to approach her and who then follows her home when she leaves. This man is Saul Shapiro – that's Sarsgaard's role. Franco doesn't use music to heighten the menace in these early scenes but the moves made by Saul on the subway and then on the street mark him out as somebody who carries the menace of a stalker. Sylvia's job may mean that she sometimes has to deal with troubled men but nevertheless after she has discovered that Saul has passed the night in the street outside her house (an apartment where she is always careful to lock the door behind her) one does not expect her to approach Saul personally. Yet that is exactly what she does do.

If one’s surprise at this point raises doubts it is as nothing compared to what follows. The audience is given a sympathetic view of Saul by being introduced to his brother, Isaac (Josh Charles,) who along with his daughter Sarah (Elsie Fisher) is looking after Saul on account of it having become clear that he is in the early stages of dementia causing memory loss. For whatever reason Sylvia chooses to meet Saul again but on talking to him about their school he claims not to remember her. She, however, not only claims that a friend of his sexually abused her at the age of twelve but insists that he did too. Later questions do arise as to the accuracy of her accusation about him but at this stage she believes she is right and yet when requested to act as a paid carer for Saul she agrees to do so.

Memory brings in a number of additional characters including Sylvia’s sister Olivia (Merritt Wever) and her mother Samantha (Jessica Harper) and this will eventually lead to another traumatic event in the life of the young Sylvia being revealed. This means that the influence of past experiences plays a key role as Sylvia and Saul draw closer. Later still Saul’s brother becomes hostile to them as he stresses the extent to which he believes that Saul’s dementia prevents him from being able to make rational decisions about his future.

The drama does get some help from the able performances. Harper and Timber offer strong support and, if Chastain is hamstrung by the story’s improbabilities, Sarsgaard is able to supply a strong centre albeit that I would not have expected him to earn an award for it. But the basic improbability together with disclosures that theoretically add to the drama yet lack the impact that would have come from more insightful writing result in a film that never really gets off the ground. The New York setting is well enough realised (the photography is by Yves Cape) but incorporating extracts from the classic Procol Harum recording ‘A Wider Shade of Pale’ provides an odd note which doesn't feel like a natural fit.  I can only regard Memory as a misfire.

MANSEL STIMPSON

Cast: Jessica Chastain, Peter Sarsgaard, Brooke Timber, Josh Charles, Jessica Harper,  Elsie Fisher, Merritt Wever, Janice Dilone, Jackson Dorfmann, Alexis Rae Forlenza, Blake Baumgartner, Lexie Braverman.

Dir Michel Franco, Pro Michel Franco, Eréndira Núñez Larios  Alec Orlovsky and Duncan Montgomery, Screenplay Michel Franco, Ph Yves Cape, Pro Des Claudio Ramirez Castelli, Ed Óscar Figueroa and Michel Franco, Costumes Gabriela Fernandez.

High Frequency Entertainment/Teorema/Case Study Films/Mubi/Screen 1/The Match Factory-Miracle/Bohemia Media.
103 mins. Mexico/USA. 2023. US Rel: 22 December 2023. UK Rel: 23 February 2024. Cert. 15.