Memory (I) (2023) User Reviews

Warm and beautiful

[pietro-mizeria · 8/10 · 10 November 2023]

Story of the encounter of two lonely, battered souls, searching for love, peace, acceptance and meaning in life. Told with class, cleverly avoiding cheap sentimentalism, treating viewers as intelligent breed. Scenes are woven together so that story runs smoothly, lightning is beautiful. Jessica is on top form, acting with her usual style, persuasion and expressing just what the story needs. Sarsgaard gets under your skin with ease and charm. Merrit Wever is again persuading with her detachment and minimalism, reasons revealed at the end.

Movie that touches you deep, connects and lets you leave the theatre grateful for what it gives you. Highly recommended.

A love story for broken people

[perisho · 8/10 · 3 March 2024]

I really liked this one. I'm sure other's will have their ideas of what it's about but it's really about love and broken people. And really isn't everyone broken to some degree?

I found the movie tackled the subject matter and characters in a very intimate way, it's almost a meditation on how people deal with trauma and prevail and how even broken people can love.

One character can't remember the other can't stop remembering. I'm sure there is something there, I'll have to think on that more- but they find each other and it turns out they have a lot to offer each other.

Marvelous film in my opinion.

A little taste of living with someone with dementia, and one with trauma

[Boristhemoggy · 7/10 · 14 March 2024]

Sylvia is a social worker who leads a simple and structured life. This is blown open when Saul follows her home from their high school reunion. Their surprise encounter will profoundly impact both of them as they open the door to the past.

The roles are played admirably by all of the main actors and with little prompt or background or character development, we slowly get to understand the main players and what drives them.

Sylvia is affected deeply by past memories that people try to convince her are untrue and that she is a liar and a bad person.

Saul cannot remember much at all as he has dementia. Polar opposites and yet attracted to one another leaning on each others strengths, whilst supporting each others weaknesses.

It's a little insight into dealing with people with dementia, and a glimpse of how people with a traumatic background can suffer right through life.

It's the friends and family who have to stand by them in times of stress.

It's a very quiet film with little meaningful dialogue, and some scenes where you have to fill in the blanks for yourself so if you're not getting what the film is about, you'll probably dislike it intensely.

If you do understand the work, family and personal dynamics you'll probably stick with it and love it by the end despite it being a hard watch.

I do believe Jessica Chastain can take any role, any role at all and turn it into something beautiful.

Main drawback: big chunks of dialogue are muttered so you don't hear what's aid. Watch this film with subtitles or you miss nuances.

An Unconventional Exploration of Recall and Romance

[brentsbulletinboard · 7/10 · 7 January 2024]

How we remember our past is something we can all bank on, right? Or is it? For instance, what happens when mitigating influences impact our memory, potentially causing it to become fallible and untrustworthy? Can we truly rely on our recall then? Those are among the questions raised in the unconventional new romantic thriller from writer-director Michel Franco. The film follows the life of Sylvia, a recovering alcoholic with a troubled past (Jessica Chastain), who's unexpectedly (and alarmingly) followed home from her high school reunion by an alleged former classmate, Saul (Peter Sarsgaard), whom she believes sexually molested her at that time. She's troubled by this latest development and questions his motives about it, which even he doesn't understand, especially when it's revealed that he suffers from dementia. And, in an added twist, it turns out that Sylvia's recall about her supposed past interaction with him is foggy, something that's not entirely surprising in light of her history. This revelation changes everything, and an entirely new relationship between them emerges, particularly when it comes to each of them helping one another sort of their respective pasts and begin the healing process. This includes the exposure of an array of additional developments and the persistence of some still-unresolved ambiguities, all of which emerge through a skillfully crafted narrative, effectively brought to life with the superb performances of Sarsgaard and Independent Spirit Award nominee Chastain. Admittedly, the picture's first half could benefit from some stepped-up pacing, most notably the elimination of some sequences that are occasionally redundant and innately tiresome. However, the intrigue and engagement ramp up significantly in the picture's back end, making up for much of the tedium in the opening act. Some of this is ironically accomplished through deftly handled nuance and subtlety, qualities that the filmmaker employs far more skillfully in the second half than in the first, where these traits are virtually obscured by prevailing understatement. Clearly, this is one of those releases that requires the viewer to give it some time to develop, but the payoff for doing so is worth it in the end. If nothing else, "Memory" provides us with a fresh perspective on its central theme while showing us how "like can cure like" in a psychological therapeutic process, an approach that can yield rewards beyond measure.

Memory

[CinemaSerf · 6/10 · 2 March 2024]

Whilst the subject matter here is quite interesting, the execution isn't especially. "Sylvia" (Jessica Chastain) is working in the social care system whilst bringing up her daughter "Anna" (Brooke Taylor). Her life, as effectively illustrated by her door locking and burglar alarm routine each day, is a structured affair with little variation. She has a strong relationship with her sister but is completely estranged from her mother. The two women attend a school reunion one night and, leaving early, she is followed home. It's a miserable night and next morning she discovers him asleep outside her door. Inspecting his wallet, she discovers his identity and calls his brother "Isaac" (Josh Charles) who explains that "Saul" (Peter Sarsgaard) has memory issues. Was he stalking her or is there more to this rather meandering scenario? Chastain does work quite well, but I found the story seemed to randomly inject way too many "incidents" along the way that seemed designed to enliven or empower the plot. Many seemed a little too disaster-scenario prone and are used to enhance purely for dramatic purposes. The culminating scenes lacked plausibility and at times the whole thing came across as little better than an A-list soap opera. Coincidence underpins just a bit too much of the film and the delivery of information about the characters to the audience is all delivered in just too sporadically a fashion. I felt sorry for just about everyone involved, but I didn't feel particularly engaged.

Good performances but very slow moving

[silviagalova · 6/10 · 9 March 2024]

It tells a story of Sylvia (Jessica Chastain), a social worker, who, after a high school reunion, is followed home by a stranger. This stranger, Saul (Peter Saarsgard) is really just lost because he has dementia and doesn't remember where he is or how to get home. The two then get to know each other and have an affair.

What lies beneath the love affair is trauma, mental health problems, abuse, and addiction. While I appreciated that the film was trying to portray these issues slightly differently than most films, it is extremely slow moving: half way through I almost lost interest as I struggled seeing where it was headed. Only about half way through we get to find out more about Sylvie's past, her drinking since she was in high school, addiction and sexual abuse by her father - which both Sylvie's mother denied and her sister never talked about or never provided support to Sylvie.

Jessica Chastain and Peter Saarsgard pull off good performances and they are great together.

Ok to watch once, but it doesn't make much emotional impact and is quite forgettable.

While not Michel Franco's best movie, it remains ambitious and compelling

[chenp-54708 · 7/10 · 20 February 2024]

I have been keeping up with Michel Franco for awhile as I have enjoyed his works on "After Lucia, Chronic, and April's Daughter". While "New Order" and "Sundown" aren't perfect, I expect Franco to offer some interesting concepts and direction in his movies. "Memory" isn't the best movie he has done but it's still captivating with strong performances from Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard, atmosphere, and direction throughout.

The narrative explores heavy traumatic themes that are pretty interesting without feeling cheap or exploitive. Although some of the narrative choices and concepts are left to more to be desired and at moments, a bit confusing on certain decisions, the writing and Franco's direction keeps the story on feeling compelling. The camerawork and production is solid. The performances are really good as Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard gave great performances to their characters and emotions. Unfortunately, some of the child performances aren't very good and noticeably poor.

The dialogue is solid as there are some interesting conversation moments, the characters are interesting and the themes, while at times it feels a little heavy-handed, are well-explored without feeling messy or cheap. However, unlike Franco's other works, it doesn't feel as impactful as it could have been and probably Franco's more tamer works unlike his usual style. Which does at times feel a bit detached.

Overall, despite the flaws, I still found the narrative, the performances and concepts to be interesting.

A film about emotional pain and connection.

[zack_gideon · 8/10 · 21 February 2024]

What is a film? To me it's an experience that you view through your own experiences. Life's not easy. Not perfect. Many times it's hard. Things happen to you that you didn't deserve and it leaves scars in your heart and emotions.

This film is about that very thing. Damaged people. Like all of us in our own way. Damaged trying to get thru this world with less pain. This is why I love this movie. It's just a subtle, raw view into pain and trauma and the little glimpses of hope. Of peace. Of love. It's hard for a lot of people out there.

So if you want to see an artistic film about this subject with no score, no gimmicks and some of the most vulnerable acting I've seen. This is for you.

One trigger warning: if you've dealt with sexual assault on any level this may be hard to watch.

Great potential

[sholden-95731 · 6/10 · 12 March 2024]

The storyline is really gripping. An all too sad story of dementia.

Great acting from jessica chastain, it's more of what she doesn't say which keeps you in suspence.,however when she does its quite hard hitting. More could have been done with Saul played by Peter Skarggard, ifeel there was more room for his character to get into trouble but it never came.

The movie does however keeps you gripped just waiting for the big f u finale but unfortunately it doesn't appear and seems to end very prematurely. When there was so much more which could have been done.

I believe another hour could have been added to give the ending the film deserves.

Shame Had Great potential.

Too Impassionate To Make Much Emotional Impact

[zkonedog · 3/10 · 18 January 2024]

In terms of setup, themes, and characters, there is a lot of potential lurking in writer/director Michel Franco's Memory. The overriding problem for all of it? A severe lack of emotionally reverberant moments that also prevents any truly great acting from occurring.

For a very basic overview, Memory tells the story of Sylvia (Jessica Chastain), an emotionally-damaged woman living a severely sheltered life with teen daughter Anna (Brooke Timber)-who spends more time with "normal" aunt Olivia (Merritt Wever) and family anyway. After a bizarre occurrence following a high school reunion, Sylvia is introduced to Saul (Peter Sarsgaard)-a man suffering from dementia in which he has trouble remembering past activities. As these two "broken" people get to know each other, they discover a bond in their awkwardness.

Ostensibly, Memory is a film about the power of coming together (either as individuals or families)-rather than falling apart-in the midst of trials. Whereas both Sylvia and Saul are incontrovertible wrecks trying to fly solo, when they find each other something else flourishes entirely. While I might argue that Saul was lacking some backstory, this is pretty clearly a flick focused on Sylvia and all the seeds are there for that character.

But in large part depending upon how you prefer emotion to be handled in cinema, Memory may come across as rather dull and empty. Why? Because it contains little-to-no external flourishes to help prod the heartstrings, so to speak. This is a "empty looks to the camera" type of film, featuring no prominent score or soundtrack. There are no epic monologues or opportunities for large, emotional acting to peak through-of which I'd argue this movie needed in the worst way. For a cast featuring the established likes of Chastain, Sarsgaard, Elsie Fisher, and Jessica Harper, it was strange to just never get a memorable emotional moment from any of them.

For me, then, Memory was largely a disappointment. It may be better viewing for those who do not require an impetus for emotion other than "strict slice of reality", but for those looking for even a bit of emotional or thespian pizzazz you'll likely be searching until the credits roll and leave disappointed it was never uncovered.

Although the story feels improbable, I loved it

[steiner-sam · 8/10 · 2 February 2024]

It's a drama of two persons with damaged memories seeking solace. The film is set in New York City in the early 2000s. Sylvia (Jessica Chastain) is a single mom who is overly protective of her 12-13-year-old daughter, Anna (Brooke Timber). Sylvia, an alcoholic who has been sober for 12 years, relates to her younger sister, Olivia (Merritt Wever), but is estranged from her mother, Samantha (Jessica Harper). The viewer soon learns of Sylvia's memories of abuse as a pre-teen.

Saul (Peter Sarsgaard) lives with his brother, Issac (Josh Charles). Saul's wife died some time ago. He has early-onset dementia that displays in unusual ways. Sylvia and Saul encounter each other at a reunion at the high school they both attended.

The film follows their improbable relationship that evolves despite a very rocky start. Their families react in different ways to what they observe in the relationship, and the ending is, in my mind, ambiguous.

Chastain is marvelous in her character. Sarsgaard is good, but the nature of his role makes for a relatively narrow personality. The role of Anna seems a tad unrealistic, but Timber plays it well. I found the film's editing to be superb. And I've always loved the Procul Harum song, "A Whiter Shade of Pale," that repeats as a theme throughout. Although the story feels improbable, I loved it.

Selective dementia

[wisewebwoman · 4/10 · 25 March 2024]

This seems to be a trope of many films depicting some kind of brain damage/injury.

Saul's dementia is all over the place. He remembers Sylvia but the not the waitress of the restaurant he visits all the time or his "favourite".

She accuses him of rape and then backs off when she finds out he was not even at her school when it took place. She mistakes a rapist? Never explained.

I was massively uncomfortable with the consent issue. And thought if the sexes were reversed and it was a woman impacted with dementia would it have been OK for the male to have sex with her? A resounding NO was my response.

I understood his brother being upset as he was the responsible adult and concerned for Saul. And then oddly, Saul remembers he paid for the house, out of the blue. Saul has no backstory to justify this. Whatsoever.

Sylvia's incest by her father is revealed but then again, her brother in law is angry about her talking about incest. What's with him?

An oddly disjointed film, begging more questions than it answers.

For instance how can Sylvia, a single mother treat her job as if it's just a hobby she can waltz in and out of at leisure?

The cast is great doing their level best with the uneven script. Hence the 5/10.

An abrupt ending. As if no one knew what to do when it was time to wrap it up. And two impoverished people (no source of income?) shack up together.

Waste of time.

Best crafted movie of 2023

[doxxman5 · 10/10 · 20 January 2024]

Memory is my favorite of Michel Franco's directed films and honestly my favorite movie of 2023 overall. It gets everything right about the nuances of dealing with people who have had trauma in their past (Jessica Chastain) and trauma in their current life (Peter Sarsgaard) that keeps them from being the complete people they want to be. To say trauma might be an understatement for what these characters have been though, and together they might actually be the only ones who are able to heal each other. The story is full of twists and surprises and i really did not know what to expect next, I rarely say this but don't read spoilers on this one as its quite good with all the reveals.

Though it has a short 1 hour and 40 minute running lime, it is a perfect length and never drags; it feels truly lived in and real. All the cinematography is invisible and the settings they use to create the atmosphere and climates of the characters are perfect to match. Supporting cast is perfect, everyone gives 'just enough to make it a true ensemble: Merrit Wever is perfectly cast as Sylvia's sister, who always supports her despite her strange (to most people around her) behavior; her mother played by Jessica Harper is the exact opposite. Brooke Timber as the daughter Anna has a more subtle role to play, slowly realizing the depth of her mother's trauma. Where so many other movies of the year try to have this kind of out-there style, excess running times, and flashy storytelling and sublime meaning, Franco makes a movie that tells a simple story and gives us all hope for humanity. It is a reminder that sometimes all you need is a well told, well-acted, well directed movie to make the biggest emotional impact.

Weird and incomplete

[simonmattera · 3/10 · 23 February 2024]

It was boring all the way. I wanted to connect with the main characters but couldn't care much. The main reason was that sylvia accused the wrong guy of raping her multiple times. How can that happen? Shortly after she becomes his caretaker. Even more strange and illogical. Later we find out she got sexually abused by her father. Also very unnatural conversation that happend, especially with the sister - just weird.

It was boring all the way. I wanted to connect with the main characters but couldn't care much. The main reason was that sylvia accused the wrong guy of raping her multiple times. How can that happen? Shortly after she becomes his caretaker. Even more strange and illogical. Later we find out she got sexually abused by her father. Also very unnatural conversation that happend, especially with the sister - just weird.

MIND GAMES

[js-66130 · 8/10 · 12 February 2024]

Hoo-boy, adulting is hard. There is very little light in this overcast tale of struggling grown-ups, resulting in a tough viewing experience.

Jessica Chastain, as an emotionally detached, recovering alcoholic single mother, and Peter Sarsgaard as a gentle giant simple man suffering from the onset of dementia, form an unlikely, damaged couple. Hated in fact. Sylvia believes Saul attacked her in high-school, and carries a lifetime of spite. Saul has no memory of the event, can offer no real defense, only a meek apology.

Mexican writer and director Michel Franco spins a messy web dealing with various memory issues with all parties involved. The film takes time to develop, often at an infuriating pace, offering very little to solve the puzzle, and presents it all in an uncomfortable, grey sheen. The dialogue rings true though, characters stumble over each others' words. Silences are achingly long as pregnant thoughts are sometimes aborted, or awkwardly presented. The stark realism that feels improvised on the spot, might be a great achievement, but it is not for everyone.

The leads are magnificent, stumbling through their vulnerabilities, and eventual hard truth reveals. Kudos. Those dedicated enough to go along for the ride will be rewarded with what amounts to closure, and more importantly, something to ponder in the days to come.

• hipCRANK.

Hollywood doesn't care about consent

[rachelnstephens · 2/10 · 16 January 2024]

What an absolute snooze of a film. My husband asked me multiple times if I'd like to leave the theater early, but alas, I had to finish it out to make sure there was no saving grace.

1. How does one forget which classmate raped them, multiple times, where they'd throw out an unfounded accusation at someone? This is written off as a "shrug" when Jessica's character realises this guy didn't even live in her city or go to her school when she was assaulted.

2. Does Hollywood expect us to not care about consent? A man with such advanced early onset dementia that he forgets where he's going or where he lives cannot consent to a sexual relationship with his caregiver who is also a social worker that just so happens to look like his dead wife. This man thinks he's with his dead wife yet his caregiver quits so that she can now sleep with her charge? No wonder his brother was furious - this is an egregious abuse of a vulnerable person. The movie glosses over this.

3. What was with Jessica's character's brother-in-law telling her to leave his house for confronting her mother for making excuses for her dad raping her? The brother-in-law should be more supportive of Jessica's character in that instance rather than protecting his mother-in-law from tough conversations. Why he acts like this was never explored. It was weird.

Hard pass on this movie.

Bizarrely toned downbeat ghoul of a dour dirge drama

[danieljfarthing · 2/10 · 23 February 2024]

In dour dirge NY drama "Memory" relentlessly joyless recovering alcoholic / sexual abuse survivor Jessica Chastain (single mum to poor teen Brooke Timber) strikes up a bizarrely toned romance with chronic dementia sufferer Peter Sarsgaard, to which the normal functioning adults around them (like Sarsgaard's brother Josh Charles) understandably react with concern (especially after a couple of disturbing incidents). Quite what writer / director Michel Franco intended with this miserable tripe is unclear, but what he produces is a depressingly downbeat ghoul of a film (albeit with the technically decent performances to be expected from the principals). It's an awful turd. Flush it.

Performances 👍 Story 👎

[gregoryschnacky · 3/10 · 6 March 2024]

If convincing performances are what you look for in a movie, you won't be disappointed. If you want a plausible story, look elsewhere.

Jessica Chastain, Peter Sarsgaard, and secondary actors are believable In their respective roles. Each succeeded in convincing me they were "real," with real issues and real interactions. Oh but convincing performances were not the only thing I was looking for in this movie. I wanted the slice of life experience of two lovers struggling with the dementia of one of them.

I feel cheated having paid $5.99 (plus tax) to watch two people meeting in such a far-fetched way and developing a relationship while one of them doesn't have the capacity. He can't remember recent events and conversations, much less dig deep into his heart to bring forth emotional and intellectual commitment. The story would be acceptable with characters that have a history together. Instead, the movie expects us to suspend belief to the point of saying to ourselves, "yeah, right."

Reminds me of High School Movie Project

[marcelavillareal · 4/10 · 23 March 2024]

Jessica and Peter are great and will perform with quality no matter which project they are hired for. The script and the direction felt very amateur. Scenes sequence was forced without smooth transition. I also noticed errors on their continuity.

The relation between Sylvia and Saul felt forced as well, similar to soap operas trying to say a story of two broken people falling in love.

The surrounding characters felt all like "background" people like the ones in school movie projects are forced to appear on the film as part of their assignment.

Michele Franco didn't seem good to me as writer not director. I couldn't see any form of Art in his work. The film reminded me of the ones we wrote and filmed as part of a high school class. Huge gap with Inarriitu's work if we compare him with other Mexican directors. Disappointing.

5 stars for realism, acting and simplicity...

[MovieCriticOnline · 5/10 · 5 March 2024]

5 stars for realism, acting and simplicity... -5 stars for story, or lack thereof and confusion.

I am okay with movies that sometimes not a lot happens in them, but having some sort of edge, like a tone, or something that is enjoyable, like funny characters, dialogue etc. E. G. Lost in Translation. Even Days of Heaven was enjoyable with very little happening.

This is very Sean Baker'ish and Noah Baumbach. A slice of life, and while I like Sean Baker's films, he always seem to miss adding SOMETHING, ANYTHING, to spice it up a bit. Although Baumbach does the same type of films, he seems to do a better job and making his films (for the most part) interesting. My biggest issue with Hollywood films is it's all action/effects/violence etc, and my biggest issue with Indie films its all characters and relationships, and very little happens. Such as the instant case.

You basically have to guess what is going on or infer a bunch of things, which is fine to some extent, but I don't want NO answers either.

While the acting was phenomenal and everything was approached in a very realistic way, which is rare in movies, I found myself really frustrated with Peter Sarsgaard's performance, which was likely due to poor direction. He couldn't even remember 5 minutes in the past of what happened in a movie, but then other times his memory was crystal clear, like he had been married, his wife died etc. But had no memory of other things, like he remember Sylvia, but didn't remember the waitress at the cafe he goes to all the time. That was very confusing. It was not well thought through.

The other confusing part if I had no clue who was who and what their relationships were, and although I eventually figured out some, others were still unknown by the end of the film.

I don't think there was enough for them to start their relationships.

At least thank god for no DEI cast. Refreshing to see a movie that reflects reality within the world they are showing. Also thank go for no fancy camera movements and annoying score, but a nice diegetic film. It makes it feel so much more real.

Overall they could have added more events to make it more interesting, they don't need an action packed Marvel movie, but a little something would have made this better.

Watch but keep all these notes in mind.

Brilliantly acted, tender love story.

[dweston-38669 · 3 March 2024]

Spanish writer/director Michel Franco is a talented filmmakers whose two previous films Sundown and New Order were totally different to each other but showed a range of depth that isn't noticed much in movies nowadays. One film was humane and a 'different' side to a love story and the other was inhumane and about society collapsing with violence. New Order was a very scary film.

His latest Memory, is more the former. And like Tim Roth in Sundown, Franco gets magical performances from Peter Sarsgaard and Jessica Chastain.

I liked how Chastain's character felt comfortable with the character Saul because he was unable to either control or dominate her-something that she is escaping from.

One could argue about the theme of 'consent' and I think this is a question the film raises- can Saul consent to a sexual relationship with his caregiver even though he was dementia or is Sylvia's characters too emotionally scarred to either care or acknowledge?

Either way this is an original love story with two great performances, that I'll be remembering for a while to come.