After Love
Joachim Lafosse’s new film “After Love” is a claustrophobic chamber drama that follows Marie (Bérénice Bejo) and Boris (Cédric Kahn), a couple who are separating after 15 years of marriage. Boris refuses to leave until Marie gives him his fair share of the apartment, which she won’t do. The two fight over Margaux and Jade, their young children, with whom they alternate custody every few days. Sometimes they shout but mostly they humiliate each other in passive-aggressive ways, hoping one will eventually give in.
If nothing else, “After Love” is a formal marvel thanks to Lafosse, cinematographer Jean-François Hensgens and production designer Olivier Radot. Almost entirely set within a two-bedroom flat, Lafosse makes every inch of the confined space an outward manifestation of Boris and Marie’s dwindling relationship. Even though it’s clichéd at this point, he turns the apartment into both prison and battleground for the adults while still keeping it as hospitable as possible for the kids.
Meanwhile, Hensgens tracks Boris’ and Marie’s movements within long takes, often squeezing them through doorways or past each other so that one can sense how much ownership over their previous life each ex-spouse feels whether or not they’re shuffling past each other or quickly seeing to their children’s needs, these people screw with control simply by walking purposefully around shared areas.
In many respects this movie is great blocking; precise positions in frame communicate respective power or its fundamental imbalance between Bejo and Kahn at any given moment throughout their performances here as well. This is usually achieved when characters are sitting or standing close together such that one person towers over another due to physical height difference etc., so on so forth.
However oblique characterizations riddle an otherwise visually acute work like “After Love.” Beyond expressing motives through perceptible antipathy and fatigue, Kahn and Bejo play Boris and Marie like ciphers whose pasts are hidden from us for most of the runtime. While it is true that Lafosse withholds information about the couple’s marriage so as to focus exclusively on its dissolution, this does not have desired effect.
Given that glimpses or hints at their former affection form only part but not all content of what we know regarding them as lovers who now despise each other after being together so long still even spending lots time watching these bitter people slowly break up fails make any real impact because there was never enough shown about when they loved each other in first place. Their core disagreement over money could be seen a mile away; personal space boundaries had no chance against such strong finances based self defense (Boris’ resentment towards wealthy Marie treating him like charity case etc.), but where did those 15 years go?
Furthermore, the movie suffers from a pacing issue inherent in its plotline. The film follows “After Love” which tells the story of a separation mediated by the stop start rhythms of daily life as parents. Therefore, it never maintains momentum for long because it is just a series of slights piled up between Boris and Marie all through.
One scene can be understood on its own as a malicious act like when Boris disrupts dinner party thrown by Marie with their common friends in attendance; however even though they continuously bounce off each other throughout this film it still does not seem so much like tête-à-tête. It may be true to life but still seems too simple as drama particularly during this movie’s ridiculous peak where after such events were staged together anywhere else apart from Hollywood boardroom.
In “After Love,” there is this moment towards its end when they have good time playing cards and cracking jokes while together with kids: undeniably pleasant night indeed. Eventually all four dance around living room before Lafosse pans over an affectionate embrace shared between Boris and Marie scene that does quite some work in terms of grounding their relationship but also acts as epiphany indicating more than what happens on-screen. Many things are done right by “After Love” yet unfortunately central relationship fails to evolve into anything beyond hatred. Only when love is deep does anger become significant.
The characters in “After Love” spend much time gazing into mirrors. Mary (Joanna Scanlan), an English woman who converted to Islam when she married her husband Ahmed, finds out a few days after he dies that he had another life with another woman. In a mirror, she rehearses what she wants to say to that woman. She later sees the woman slim, blond, sophisticated wearing jeans instead of the traditional coverings of Mary’s faith. Again in front of a mirror, she looks at her exposed body and runs her hands over her skin.
There are mirrored reflections of the metaphorical kind too. It’s a story of two women looking at each other, first to see what sets them apart, then to see what brings them together.
Ahmed captained a ferry across the water that separates England from France which the British call the English Channel and the French call La Manche. In the days after his death, Mary replays a fond voicemail he left her, jokingly scolding her not to get too close to the edge of the White Cliffs of Dover when waving at his boat. She thought the man with whom she’d spent her life since they were teenagers was as loyal to her as he was dedicated to him. But she found out about another woman in his life: Genevieve (Nathalie Richard), from the French side of that water.
So Mary also crosses the Channel after spending a lot of time looking across it; she wants to face the other woman. Beforehand, she practices in front of the mirror what she will say when the moment comes. But it happens that when she stands there by the door as Genevieve walks towards her, she cannot speak her voice disappears. Instead, sophisticated and self-assured Genevieve sees an Englishwoman from lower class with head covering and assumes that she must be a cleaning lady. Thus, she orders Mary to do laundry; few minutes later Mary hides her nose in one of Ahmed’s shirts.
Genevieve is moving houses and needs assistance with packing everything up. Mary keeps coming back everyday to help because through that she gets to know more about her husband’s other life and this strange woman whom they shared so much yet were so different from each other. She had been together with Ahmed since they were teenagers; they got married and were close even to his family members but not even once did Genvieve meet any relative of his as well as never having tied a knot with him herself though being mother to their son Solomon (Talid Ariss). However all these feelings vanish away from Mary at that point when for first time ever she sees Ahmed inside boy who blames his mother for father’s absence.
There are some visual details which writer/director Aleem Khan tells best some being just imaginary embodiments of feelings; others within filmic world itself true ones: Majestic cliffs above water appear trembling; crack splits bedroom ceiling. Amongst them is also this one where within a crowd we see a stoic widow whose whole body except face is covered in clean white whiles around her sobbing ladies dressed black wait for men returning from burial Kahns keeps suchlike parallels subtle but significant enough whereby each woman ends up lying on top another’s bed unwillingly.
At beginning contrasts are huge quieted religious Mary immerses herself totally into adopted religion and culture as well, considering that she is cosmopolitan independent. Initially Solomon overlooks her but eventually allows himself to be comforted by her. Not able to talk because of being overwhelmed with emotions at first then finding common language with him later which leads into painful truth telling. Another secret comes out quietly thereafter.
“After Love” is not accurate at all; love does not end here just like any other agony experienced due to loss. On the contrary it talks about individuals who discover that shattered heart breeds compassion and start realizing our similarities outweigh differences between us.
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