Jury Prize in Cannes, “Memoria” renews the magic Apichatpong Weerasethakul with Tilda Swinton

Palme d’or 2010 with Uncle boonmee, Jury Prize in 2004 with Topycal Malady, the Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul is jury prize at Cannes this year with Memoria, which comes out Wednesday, November 17. True to his contemplative vein and esoteric, he shot for the first time outside his home country, and with a star, Tilda Swinton, who is also producing the film.

Jessica (Tilda Swinton) is disturbed by a powerful and strange sound that only she can hear at any time of the day or night. She investigates to find out the origin of this disorder and ends up with a shaman who reveals the memory of the Earth to her. Introduced to this knowledge, she will attend the unexpected revelation of the origin of the sound disturbance that haunts her.

Film on memory, as its title suggests, Memoria deals not with human memory, but with that of the Earth, stones, water, trees and wind. Outsmarting all the traditions of narrative cinema, Apichatpong Weerasethakul ignores all rationality in his narrative from a formal point of view and meaning. The Thai director talks about the invisible, the magic of the world. A spirituality that he translates into images, always of great contemplative beauty.

Still shots, without any movement inside the frame, especially no camera movement, put the viewer in a state comparable to that of pre-sleep alpha waves, as if under hypnosis. Like all Apichatpong Weerasethakul films, Memoria is more about the experience than the traditional going to the cinema. Tilda Swinton, as Jessica, was totally invested in her role, confirming her choices for off the beaten track films like Only Lovers Left Alive, wonderful story of vampires by Jim Jarmusch, or Snowpiercer.

Images of the filmmaker remain in the memory for a long time after their vision. In Memoria, it transcends what could have been staged in a science fiction film by a Steven Spielberg. A moment of incredible surprise that breaks the languid rhythm of the film. The sublimation of nature recalls the ecological hymns of Hayao Miyazaki and the soundtrack is a work of art in its own right. The Apichatpong Weerasethakul magic operates over and over again if one lends itself to it. A meditation.

Kind : Fantastic
Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Actors : Tilda Swinton, Elkin Díaz, Jeanne Balibar
Country : Thailand / Great Britain / Colombia / France / Mexico
Duration : 2h14
Exit : November 17, 2021
Distributer : New story

Synopsis: At daybreak I was surprised by a big BANG and did not find sleep. In Bogota, through the mountains, in the tunnel, near the river. A bang.