First comes the sound of the waves, then appears this image which could hardly be more peaceful: that of a young woman dozing on the beach. Soon, however, piano notes imbued with sadness cast doubt on the real tenor of the moment. Then, the apparent tranquility is irremediably contradicted by the appearance of the title: The restless. In fact, this static, calm shot is followed by agitated shots of a man and a child frolicking in the sea. he swims back. If the cinephile is amazed, the kid, he does not seem to be the least in the world.
Written and directed by Joachim Lafosse, who was partly inspired by his own childhood memories, The restless tells the story of the slow but inevitable break-up of a couple whose spouse with bipolar disorder refuses to follow the treatment his condition requires. His name is Damien and he is a listed painter (as evidenced by a large property with swimming pool located not far from the sea already mentioned).
When we meet him, a manic episode is brewing, but hasn’t quite taken hold yet. Never far away, Leïla, Damien’s wife, who refurbishes old furniture, keeps watch. She is worried to see that her husband is no longer sleeping. She guesses before he admits it to her that he has stopped taking his medication.
Over the course of the conversations, we end up understanding that Damien recently went to a psychiatric clinic during an episode of depression following a manic period precipitated, again, by abandonment of treatment.
In the midst of creative momentum (he has promised dozens of paintings to his agent), Damien is convinced that he is doing well.
Notable interpretations
Outside his studio, Damien, sometimes enthusiastic, sometimes quibbling, has an increasingly unpredictable mood. The portrait is very accurate, and the actor Damien Bonnard (Wretched) is absolutely brilliant in the role. The actor reveals, without ever overdoing it, a growing gap between reality and the character’s perception of it.
Imparted from the apparently perhaps more ungrateful score of this woman tired of putting her life on hold to, as she said at one point, be the nurse of her husband, Leïla Bekhti (The big bath) is great too. Increasingly exhausted, his character must also watch over their young son, Amine, whom Damien sometimes puts in danger, but who lets off steam on his mother, the only figure of necessary authority.
Carried by these remarkable interpretations, but never flashy, The restless also benefits from an intelligent staging by Joachim Lafosse. In phase with the subject, his camera rarely sets down, nervous, on the lookout, capturing here, in close-up, a hallucinated gaze, there, in a long shot, bodies that are distant but tense just before a confrontation. And there are these occasional returns to the sea, which sums up Damien’s state so well, with its ebb and flow, from high tide to low tide…
Honest and sensitive work, The restless do not leave unscathed.