Everybody Knows * * * *
Asghar Farhadi is the same director who gave us The Salesman a couple of years ago; a film which I thought overrated and somewhat pretentious but saved by a couple of particularly powerful scenes.
I like this one better, even though it's probably a bit too long. But it is a well plotted, original drama. This film is set in Spain and features two of Spain's biggest actors, Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz.
It centers around a large family in the grape-growing district. Like so many respected and established families who have a long standing in the community, they have secrets - or they think they have secrets - hence the title.
Those members of the family that are still in the area, and those that now live elsewhere, are all drawn together for a wedding in the village. Much drinking and feasting is indulged in.
One of the visiting teenage girls falls ill. Is this just a teenager who has drunk too much? Her mother puts her to bed but when she checks on her an hour later she is missing. Then the threatening and demanding text messages start coming through from the kidnappers, including the predictable " If you tell the police, she dies". They want three hundred thousand Euros for her safe return.
The family are in a dilemma and in conflict as to how to handle the situation, and as ideas and plans emerge so do suspicions and truths.
Like the family, the viewers cannot help but feel this is an inside job - or at least someone from the village. The community is just too small for an outsider to have targeted them.
Some viewers might guess the truth, but I have to admit I did not; at the same time I didn't fall off my seat with surprise when it was revealed.
However, plot aside, where this film shines is in the intimacy and accuracy. It feels extraordinarily real in the way they talk and interact with each other. Not for one moment do you feel there is a contrivance or lack of believably about this family or community. Even the other people in the village have an interaction with this dominant family that tells us so much.
The village and the surrounding landscape is portrayed so acutely you can almost smell it.
Please don't miss the the simple but hypnotically beautiful opening scene set in the church clock tower.
I like this one better, even though it's probably a bit too long. But it is a well plotted, original drama. This film is set in Spain and features two of Spain's biggest actors, Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz.
It centers around a large family in the grape-growing district. Like so many respected and established families who have a long standing in the community, they have secrets - or they think they have secrets - hence the title.
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| "We got 4 stars from Flip". "Worth paying the ransom for." |
One of the visiting teenage girls falls ill. Is this just a teenager who has drunk too much? Her mother puts her to bed but when she checks on her an hour later she is missing. Then the threatening and demanding text messages start coming through from the kidnappers, including the predictable " If you tell the police, she dies". They want three hundred thousand Euros for her safe return.
The family are in a dilemma and in conflict as to how to handle the situation, and as ideas and plans emerge so do suspicions and truths.
Like the family, the viewers cannot help but feel this is an inside job - or at least someone from the village. The community is just too small for an outsider to have targeted them.
Some viewers might guess the truth, but I have to admit I did not; at the same time I didn't fall off my seat with surprise when it was revealed.
However, plot aside, where this film shines is in the intimacy and accuracy. It feels extraordinarily real in the way they talk and interact with each other. Not for one moment do you feel there is a contrivance or lack of believably about this family or community. Even the other people in the village have an interaction with this dominant family that tells us so much.
The village and the surrounding landscape is portrayed so acutely you can almost smell it.
Please don't miss the the simple but hypnotically beautiful opening scene set in the church clock tower.
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