Juliette Binoche's Stellar Performance Elevates A Gimmicky Plot In 'L'Attesa'
By Joel Wicklund in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 24, 2016 3:20PM
Juliette Binoche and Lou de Laâge (in reflection) in "L'Attesa." (Photo: Alberto Novelli/Oscilloscope Laboratories.)
Art films can be as excessively manipulative as any Hollywood blockbuster, as proven by L'Attesa, a beautifully acted study of grief undercut by a gimmicky plot device. It is still well worth seeing—especially for the sterling performances of Juliette Binoche and Lou de Laâg—but the story structure cheapens the deeper themes.
L'Attesa translates to "the wait," which is exactly what the viewer endures during the film. We wait for Anna (Binoche) to reveal to Jeanne (de Laâge) that Giuseppe, Anna's son and Jeanne's boyfriend, is dead. We learn of the tragedy right at the top of the film, but Anna withholds the news from Jeanne when the young woman arrives, expecting to meet Giuseppe, at the lovely Sicilian estate his French transplant mother calls home.
This isn't merely the delay of someone reluctant to break bad news. Anna keeps the death a secret to learn more about her son's private life, to pass judgment on this girlfriend she knew nothing about, and to somehow keep part of her son alive—if only in the mind of someone else—for as long as she can.
It's an intriguing premise, but unfortunately it requires too much suspension of disbelief for a film rooted in realism. Jeanne arrives just as a wake for Giuseppe is being held at the estate, and the script (based loosely on Luigi Pirandello's play, La vita che ti diedi) already strains credibility as Jeanne talks to mourners and house staff who realize she does not know who the deceased is. Yet no one shares the truth.
Anna compounds the dishonesty by telling Jeanne the service was for her brother. She then invites Jeanne to stay at the house, waiting for Giuseppe to arrive. The visit extends over several days. Anna listens to anxious messages from Jeanne on her son's cell phone... messages that, of course, will never be heard by the intended recipient. As the lie goes on, the cruelty of Anna's deception grows.
Binoche and de Laâge in "L'Attesa." (Photo: Alberto Novelli/Oscilloscope Laboratories.)
It's clear that more than grief is behind the mother's actions. Envy of Jeanne's youth and a disapproval of her free-spirited ways also inform Anna's ghoulish game. Thanks to Binoche's deeply felt performance, though, Anna is highly sympathetic in spite of her mistreatment of Jeanne.
Binoche has explored the anxieties of middle age in a couple of excellent recent films: last year's Clouds of Sils Maria and 2010's masterful Certified Copy. She brings an equally deep emotional investment in that subject to her role here. Always a strong performer, over the last 15 years or so she has established herself as one of the elite actors working today, and she lives up to that reputation in L'Attesa.
A newcomer by comparison, de Laâge holds her own with Binoche. She convincingly plays Jeanne as worldly for her age, yet innocent enough to believe her host in spite of all the curiously vague explanations for her son's late arrival. The movie needs both these fine performances to overcome the highly contrived narrative.
Director Piero Messina also impresses in his first feature film. Messina worked as an assistant director on Paolo Sorrentino's visually stunning The Great Beauty and he clearly has a gift for arresting images himself. From scenic shots of the two leading ladies in the Sicilian countryside to stark images of Binoche in the dark, lit only by her son's cell phone, the film is full of eye-catching moments.
Yet, for all its considerable strengths, L'Attesa is an exasperating experience. The suspense surrounding if and when Anna will tell the truth fades slightly with each scene that she does not. Despite the actors' best efforts, you start to see these two characters as writer's constructs instead of real people. The central premise of the movie is too flimsy to match the conviction of its stars.
L'Attesa. Directed by Piero Messina. Screenplay by Giacomo Bendotti, Ilaria Macchia, Andrea Paolo Massara and Piero Messina. Based on the play "La vita che ti diedi," by Luigi Pirandello. Starring Juliette Binoche and Lou de Laâge. 110 mins. No MPAA raring. In Italian and French with English subtitles.
Opens Friday, June 24 at the Gene Siskel Film Center.