A social worker and single mother, Sylvia suffers from alcoholism, but has not taken a drop in thirteen years: the age of her daughter Sara. At the end of a reunion where she went unwillingly, Sylvia is followed by Saul, a former classmate. At first worried, she discovers that this widower is actually suffering from early-onset dementia. Between these two solitary beings a complicity will develop which will prove, thanks to subsequent revelations, as astonishing as it is poignant. Written and directed by Michel Franco, Memory features two superb performances from Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard, which The duty could hear during a virtual conference.
“I read the script before meeting Michel, but having seen his previous films, I knew it could be quite dark,” explains Jessica Chastain during the videoconference event.
“During the scene in the park [où Sylvia raconte l’agression qu’elle a subie autrefois]I immediately thought: “OK, I understand: this is a film in reaction to the movement Me Too”. A revenge film, with a woman who will cause havoc… But the more I progressed, the more I became aware that what is beautiful about Michel, in his way of writing, is that it goes against expectations and clichés. On every page, in every scene, I found that I didn’t know what was going to happen next with the characters. »
Responding to the words of his playing partner, Peter Sarsgaard confides that the sequence mentioned, where Saul follows Sylvia to her home, was the most complex for him to play.
“It seemed important to me that the character, Saul, had a submerged part, about which the public wonders, and a visible part. I knew this scene required ambiguity regarding my character’s intentions. But for my part, as an actor, I had to have a very precise idea of why Saul acts the way he does. »
The actor therefore clung to the image of Saul’s deceased wife. Like Sylvia, the deceased was a redhead, as can be seen in a photo. In his mental fog, did Saul simply confuse the two women? In Memoryno visual detail is trivial…
“The thought of Saul’s partner kept coming back to me. She was always on my mind. It was wonderful to be able to play a man who has so much respect for women: it led me to think that Saul’s relationship with his wife should be loving and egalitarian. This is why Saul has so much love to give, but has nowhere to put it. And that’s when Sylvia appears, and Saul is going to give her as much love as she takes,” continues Peter Sarsgaard, who won the Best Actor prize at the Venice Film Festival for his remarkable performance.
Will an Oscar nomination for best actor follow? Time will tell.
In the meantime, it is the past that is at the heart of Memory. A past with which the protagonists have contrasting relationships: while Sylvia, in post-traumatic shock, is haunted by it, Saul, whose cognitive faculties are disintegrating, no longer has access to it.
Mismatched, this duo becomes strangely complementary when Sylvia agrees to take care of Saul.
Control the tempo
The rest, delicate, moving, subtle, is presented in a series of long shots or medium shots, often static, like paintings animated only by the characters. Stripped down, the device is both clinical and revealing: it is not for nothing that Michel Franco was nicknamed by Variety the “Mexican Michael Haneke”.
“Michel’s approach, which favors these wide shots, ensures that it is we, the actors, who control the tempo. That’s why I was so happy to have Jessica opposite me: all the little organic and complex things that happened between us in each take could live and breathe, instead of having to be reproduced in various cutaway shots . It makes things a lot easier, especially the emotional part,” says Peter Sarsgaard.
Besides the fact that the filmmaker’s directing choices also pleased Jessica Chastain, the latter particularly appreciated the minimalist – not to say harsh – filming conditions. In fact, on Memory, there was no private trailer or lodge. The team was so small that the actress was responsible for her costumes, hair and makeup.
“I started in this profession playing in tiny theater productions where I had to make do with all that. Doing your own hair and makeup in the theater is normal. So it didn’t bother me in the least. This film is the one that immediately followed the Oscar for The Eyes of Tammy Faye [Dans les yeux de Tammy Faye], and Michel admitted to me that some of his friends were convinced that I would leave the project for something bigger. People have this preconceived idea of actors as creatures seeking luxury and comfort at all costs…”
When it comes to Jessica Chastain, nothing could be further from the truth. On the contrary, she thrives on risk.
Embrace the unexpected
Precisely, in the area of risk-taking, of “endangerment”, Memory satisfied the actress. Indeed, in the same way that he manages many narrative twists, Michel Franco reserved several surprises for his interpreters.
Recalling Jessica Chastain: “When I showed up the very first day, I found that I was in a real Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, with a group of real people who had agreed to attend. I was completely unprepared for this. Except that by working in this way, it forced me, as an actress, not to be an actress, but to simply be a human; to be present. I loved working this way. »
In short, far from making the two stars anxious, these unforeseen events encouraged them to invest like never before. No wonder that since the Venice and Toronto festivals, in particular, it has been repeated that Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard deliver the best performances of their respective illustrious careers. To conclude the first:
“Michel likes people to arrive with an open mind and an open heart. »
And it turns out that this applies as much to the spectators as to the actors.
The film Memory hits theaters on January 19.