Tags
Belgium, Bluegrass, Country Music, Felix van Groeningen, Film review, Johan Heldenberg, Nell Cattrysse, The Broken Circle Breakdown, Veerle Baetens
Lacerating and heart-breaking, beautifully told and with fine music
On the face of it, this is a simple and alas reasonably common tale : – man and woman meet, fall in love, have a time of bliss, and a child, who intensifies and changes their bliss, and then some tragedy strikes the child, and everything is changed utterly, and unravels into pain all the way.
This isn’t too much of a spoiler, as the opening of the film shows a small child in hospital, being talked through receiving something intravenously, and we see from the parents’ expressions this is not going to be good, and immediately the viewer knows where we are heading.
Any individual story is only going to work if we engage with the protagonists, though surely a suffering child almost automatically is going to grab most of us by the throat, sinew, gut and heart, squeeze and not let go. I must admit from the very beginning I was short of breath, and saying ‘oh no, no, no’
However, there has to be some leaven to get the viewer through this and this Belgian film, directed by Felix van Groeningen, manages its leaven spectacularly, both in filmic, narrative terms and the excellence of the 3 leads.
Elise (Veerle Baetens) is a quirky young woman who owns a tattoo parlour. She meets Didier (Johan Heldenberg, who also co-wrote the script) a blue-grass musician in love with America and its country music. The wonderful, intricate music runs through the film, as the band achieves greater success and scenes take in concerts from little smoky dives to larger stadiums.
The structure of the film (and it works stunningly) is non-linear, as over 7 years of relationship cuts between different moments of past and present. The audience is pretty well in the know of ‘what happens next’ all the way through, so what we focus on is the how and the internal psychology of the individuals. Intercut with this is the friction between faith (Elise) and atheism (Didier) and the wider way in which politics, medical research and individual lives collide.
Baetens and Heldenberg offer beautifully raw, real performances, and are un-airbrushed and unsentimental.
Johan Heldenberg, Veerle Baetens
However – I mentioned 3 leads – little Nell Cattrysse as Maybelle, Elise and Didier’s daughter, will not so much break your heart as rip it in pieces.
No doubt this review is screaming at the more sensitive – avoid, avoid, but, there is real joy and sweetness within it, and the savour and fizz of life, the upsides as well as the downs, are engaged with. The non-linear narrative inserts slivers of the very very good and the very very painful cheek by jowl with each other. And this is how life is.
A strong heart and a day of equanimity might be needed for this beautiful rendition of If I Needed You by Baetens and Heldenberg
Belgium’s entry for Best Foreign Language film for the 2014 Oscar nominations
I received this DVD as a review copy as part of the Amazon Vine programme, UK
The Broken Circle Breakdown Amazon UK
The Broken Circle Breakdown Amazon USA
Lady Fancifull 
I do so enjoy reading and experiencing your posts. Thank you.
Oh what a kind appreciative comment. Thank you Wordman
Yes, I would not be able to make it through this one. It sounds like a wonderful film, though. I was at a conference last week, so I was very quiet on the electron superhighway or whatever that term is….
Hope conference was worth the time away from your virtual bloggy mates!
Re this film – I would imagine it might be an impossible watch for someone with young children in their lives. I only just made it through. It is one of those paradoxical ones where the better and more truthful and naked the level of performance is – the worse it gets. And its not helped by the genuine charm of the central characters, who are ordinarily quirky attractive human beings rather than being glossy stars polished to an impossible perfection. The combination with wretched music which has the ability to worm inside the heart and the tear ducts, when made a part of the story is…….gulp!
I watched Emmy-Lou Harris’s rendition of If you Needed Me after Veerle, Johan and the band, and was completely unmoved and untouched by ELH. Yet I’m sure had I not seen this film the tender chords and harmonies would have touched a sweet sentimental response.
Of course all art manipulates our emotions, and this film certainly certainly does that, but it touched ‘real’ too.