The most difficult human emotion to deal with is grief. When a loved one dies
those left behind rarely know how to cope, how to fill the void that is left in
their hearts. Creating a film that focuses on people struggling to cope with
life after the death on someone close is one of the more difficult stories to
tell. The writer has to provide a script that is realistic without going over to
the melodramatic. The dialogue has to be more emotional and the danger is to go
over the top and become unintentionally comical. For the director they have to
be careful not to give in to the allure of using the typical art house or film
school tricks with color filters and strange camera angels. A story of loss
works best when told in a plain, straight forward fashion. The film needs to let
the story tell itself and the cast connect with the actors. The latest film by
Danish writer and director, Susanne Bier, ‘The Things We Lost in the Fire’ has
its flaws but it deftly avoids the most common pitfalls of this genre. This is
an honest, human exploration of the worse time in a woman’s life, the time
following the unexpected killing of her husband. What helps this film over the
few shortcomings it has is the amazing cast. They reach out of the screen and
grab the audience not letting go until the closing credits begin to roll.
Susanne Bier may not be a household name here in America but she is well know
to the foreign film and festival set. She has a practical and economical
directing style that comes right to the point. Much of this is most likely due
to her previous association with the Dogme 95 created by fellow Danish directors
Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg. This is a draconian, extremely strict form
of film making where the director agrees to numerous restrictions. They cannot
bring to the set any props, all music must be natural to the environment, there
must be a single timeline (the present) and a hand held camera is the only one
allowed. While Beir has moved on from the Dogma Collective she uses the
experience to the best possible measure here. She proves what many critics of
Dogma 95 have said in the past, it is great training for a director but isn’t
practical for most films. Her strict directorial upbringing has given her the
means to put aside the affectations of her craft and focus on the humanity of
the story. She has an eye for detail that is masterful and creative. It is also
interesting to see how someone from another country views grief as played out
here in the States. This detaches Bier from the clichés of our story tellers and
brings out the universal nature of grieving. With a background devoid of the
usual distractions Bier is able to do what a great director has to; get the best
possible performance from her cast. She knows she has great talent in front of
the camera and she gives them every opportunity to show their abilities. The
only downside of her direction that is visible is Bier’s perchance for extremely
close-ups of body parts. She will focus on fingers touching or eyes reacting
pulling too close for comfort. She is best when she uses a wider shot to allow
the body language of the actors to come through. This may be her first American
made film but hopefully it will not be her last.
This is the first motion picture script for writer Allan Loeb. It is
something that this person does not have a long string of hits behind him. There
is efficiency to his story that allows the story to unfold organically. So many
scripts dealing with the subject of personal loss force the issue. They try too
hard to write about grief to get the emotional honestly across to the audience.
Loeb creates a platform for the actors and gives them the words and situations
they need to convey the plot. For example a physical relationship is alluded to
between the two main characters. This is not from a need for lust or sex but
just two people that crave human contact. It is a tender moment of people trying
their best to heal. The part of the deceased husband does suffer the most in
this script. He is painted broadly as a man without any discernable human flaws.
In one way this could work as the idealized remembrance of his widow.
The film begins with Audrey Burke (Halle Berry) lying in bed next to her
young son, Dory (Micah Berry). Let legs are curled up to fit in the small bed.
She remembers her husband, Brian (David Duchovny) and how well he got along with
their son. Brain was the perfect father and husband, loving and giving. These
were also the personality traits that would plunge the family into a tailspin of
despair. Brian was shot while trying to save someone’s life. He placed himself
between a woman and her out of control husband and was shot for his effort. This
was typical of him, always putting others first. No his family is drifting
without him. Also left behind by the death is their young daughter, Harper
(Alexis Llewellyn). At the funeral Audrey meets up with her husband’s life long
friend, Jerry Sunborne (Benicio Del Toro). He looks out of place with a crumpled
suit, undone tie and cigarette stuck behind his ear. Initially Audrey forgot to
inform Jerry of the funeral but dispatches her brother to bring him. Jerry has
been having a tough time lately. He is trying to recover from a long time of
abusing drugs. Audrey invites him to stay in an apartment in her garage. He gets
along naturally with the children but every day is a battle to stay away from
the drugs. These are two extremely damaged human beings who wind up reaching out
to one another for comfort and strength. Audrey even asks Jerry to share her
bed, not in s sexual way just to have someone close to her. She misses the
nearness of Brian. Jerry starts to try to help her children. When he convinces
Dory to over come her fear of going underwater in the pool Audrey becomes upset
and kicks Jerry out of the garage apartment. He quickly turns to the only means
of solace he knows, drugs.
This is a film that is an actor’s tour de force. Berry has finally come back
from the post Oscar curse of bad films. After some bad horror flicks and the
dreadful ‘Catwoman’ she is back with a role she can actually act in. She plays
Audrey as a woman who had what everyone would agree is as close to the perfect
life as possible. Audrey based her view of the world through her family and now
with her husband gone that world view is shattered. Berry reaches deep down to
channel the pain that this character is feeling. Juxtaposed to Berry is yet
another stellar performance by Del Toro. He is the sort of actor who quietly
gives one knock out performance after another. Here his presentation of a man
who was once a successful attorney who hides from life behind drugs. He and
Berry provide a look at two broken people. While the reasons and coping skills
are different they both are empty and in need of human compassion.
Dreamworks, through Paramount has released this film to DVD with the much
deserved attention it deserves. The DVD is available in either regular DVD or
HD-DVD. Instead of the usual director’s commentary track they give a discussion
of the film. Among the crew members chiming in are Bier, Loeb and producer Sam
Mendes. They each disassemble the film showing just how it was brought to the
screen. There are also seven deleted scenes. This is a thoughtful, beautifully
filmed story that we all can relate to.
Posted 02/15/08