Hereafter

First Hit: Sublime – This film tells a story of life after death in a way that lets audiences look at their own beliefs with equanimity.

This film develops three unique stories about the lives of three people who are touched by death differently and come together in an engaging and sublime way.

Most films dealing with death and the hereafter bring in stories of religion or prophecy (The Rapture is one) as the focus. This one alludes to science but not in an overhanded way. 

The science is about what people experience after dying is only used as assistance by one of the characters to write her book on her experience. It was a way for her to find words to what happened to her.

The opening scene has Marie (played by Cecile De France) on a south Asian island looking for souvenirs for her boyfriend’s children when a tsunami hits the town. She is swept up by the wave of water and I will tell you this that it is an absolutely amazing sequence of scenes as to what it could feel like to be swept away by water.

My own experience of near drowning when I was body surfing in the infamous Southern California south swells at Huntington Beach Pier while in high school was immediately touched and remembered.

The power of water to disorient direction and make one helpless to a commanding power of a raging sea is captured in this opening sequence. It is amazing! Left for dead, her body (with will/spirit/destiny) decides to come back and stay in this world.

The experience she had during the time she was not breathing and without heartbeat deeply affected her and leaves her her questioning her life. She becomes curious of what happened to her and her experience while she was dead for some minutes.

A young twin boy Marcus (played by both Frankie and George McLaren) loses his twin brother and feels lost and because his twin is gone, he feels like only part of him is still living and he feels totally lost. His mother, a drug addict, has to let the surviving boy live with foster parents, therefore he feels even a greater sense of being lost and abandoned.

The third story is about George Lonegan (played by Matt Damon) who as a child ended up, through illness and surgery, with the ability (curse) to connect with people who have passed on. This happens when he touches someone. At one time he was famous for doing readings for people but it was a life he disliked.

When we meet him he is working in a sugar factory, living alone, and his brother keeps trying to get him to go back into the psychic business. The issue of his being a psychic is brought full force when he meets a woman in a cooking class; they team up together in some of the films best and joyous scenes while in class. When she learns he has this gift she implores him to tell her what he sees, he does and she leaves his life crying.

These stories slowly weave together in a way allowing each character to be seen more fully as they struggle with their stories. George’s story is the primary story in that he is the connection between the other two characters.

This film is introspective, doesn’t try to push a belief or religion. It simply says, people who have had experiences where they have been clinically dead come back with an experience which poses the question is there life after death in the Hereafter.

Damon is extraordinary in this role of a man who tries his best to live with having the ability to understand and hear of departed souls. The McLaren boys were engaging and wonderful as the twins and the remaining boy Marcus. The depth and loss of a twin was effectively portrayed. De France was very good in what must have been a difficult role in the beginning where she had to give an accurate rendition of what it was like to be swept away in a tsunami. As her role unfolded I didn’t think her transformation was effectively written. Peter Morgan wrote this with an openness that didn’t force any one idea or spiritual or religious aspect. Clint Eastwood directed and he shows he knows how to pace a film. He used minimal special effects after the opening tsunami scene but used great acting to let the story unfold at an engaging pace.

Overall: I really enjoyed this film from the opening sequence to the questions it poses and how it always let the audience have their own opinion.

A Secret

First Hit: This is an excellent French film about a man uncovering the hidden past of his father and family as it unfolded during a difficult and intense period of our history.

Based on a true story, this film floats between three different time periods but all within a 40 year time span.

Although it is a story about Francois Grimbert’s discovery about his life through the story of his mother and father’s life he really isn’t the main character. In fact I was hard pressed to say there was a main character.

The roles are so well interwoven that it is the whole film that becomes the focus and the beneficiary is the audience. At the age of 14 Francois’ Aunt Louise (played by Julie Depardieu) begins to reveal the story of his parent’s life.

Patrick Bruel plays the father, Maxime Nathan Grinberg, an athletic, distant and driven man who marries Hannah Golda Sirn (played by Ludivine Sagnier) and, together, they have a son. This son is a person who pops into Francois’ dreams as his brother and generally the audience sees him in black and white imagery during the dream sequences.

At Maxime and Hannah’s wedding, Maxime meets his wife’s brother’s wife Tania (played by Cecile De France). Maxime gazes at her with longing interest and she quickly and appropriately diverts her attention. She makes clear that his attention is unwanted.

Tania’s husband has been taken by the Germans and is in a camp somewhere and Tania is living with hope that her husband is safe and that she’ll see him again. Maxine’s initial gaze, over the years, causes a disturbance in Maxime and Hannah’s relationship.

Additionally, circumstances of World War II cause beliefs and truths to be lived and the acknowledgement and non-acknowledgement of their Judaism becomes another deep separating wound between Hannah and Maxime. This is the story leading up to the beginning of Francois’ life.

Sagnier, De France, and Depardieu were outstanding in their roles. Bruel was strong and the incongruence of his face and inner lying feelings was a key element in this film. However, the imagery of “his brother” at times I thought was a little distracting and inconsistent. But in the end I felt the director did the material justice.

Overall: It took about 15 minutes for me to slide into this film and its intention to tell a story. By the end of this film I was hooked by both the acting and the story.