French-Canadian drama, adapted from Wajdi Mouawad's acclaimed play and nominated for Best Foreign Langauge Film at the 2011 Academy Awards.
After the death of their mother (Lubna Azabal), Jeanne and Simon (Mélissa Désormeaux Poulin, Maxim Gaudette) receive a pair of envelopes in the will – one for the father they thought was dead and another for a brother they didn’t know existed.
Jeanne decides to go to the Middle East to dig into her mysterious family history. Simon is unmoved by their mother’s posthumous mind games but joins his sister in combing their ancestral homeland. The twins discover a tragic fate and a very different person from the mother they knew.
Because of the dual narrative, the characters in the present are often little more than intermediaries between us and Azabal’s story, passing on the past in fractured monologues and mistranslations. But every time the film begins to feel more like a history lesson than a drama, it explodes into action. Witness the devastating desert ambush, or Désormeaux-Poulin’s symbolic splash across a snow-white swimming pool.
Full reviewExpertly shifting between present and past , writer-director Denis Villeneuve displays an impressive command of his material, patiently building up to an emotionally explosive climax.
Full review
Mr. Villeneuve tells Nawal's story in a way that is both subtle and emphatic, and Ms. Azabal, portraying Nawal from hopeful youth to despairing middle age, gives a performance that is all the more powerful for the restrained, unshakeable sense of dignity she brings to it.
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Most people do not choose their religions but have them forced upon themselves by birth, and the lesson of Incendies is that an accident of birth is not a reason for hatred.
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It's not without emotional punch, especially in its final reels, but it's undercut by the melodramatic contrivances which get us there.
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The past is where all the intrigue of the movie lies, and that is where the film is at its most compelling, with the present sometimes wilting in the desert heat.
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Although the film runs more than two hours, the story is so compelling and the production so beautifully controlled that we are gripped by the characters' quest right up to the shocking end of the story.
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A thriller that twists and turns with an understated power that will have you gripping the arm of your seat. Terrific stuff.
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While the film will likely stick with viewers, it's ultimately a tossup what they'll remember most: the stunning buildup, or the massive letdown.
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