A Thousand Times Good Night (2013)
(Tusen ganger god natt)
Country: NOR/EIRE/SW
Technical: col 117m
Director: Erik Poppe
Cast: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Juliette Binoche, Lauryn Canny
Synopsis:
Having taken personal endangerment to new levels with her reportage on Kabul's female suicide bombers, a photo-journalist returns home to Ireland, wounded and dimly aware that she faces an ultimatum from her long-suffering husband and daughters.
Review:
After an arresting opening sequence, this family drama has a lot to live up to, and does not help itself by wasting too much time on peripheral husband and wife stuff: it is the relationship between mother and elder daughter that really counts. Ultimately, though, the film delivers a powerful emotional payload, centred on Binoche's conflicted performance, between her character's need to bear witness to the horrors she photographs, and her love for her family. The culmination of this comes in two scenes towards the end: a presentation given by the daughter, signalling a dawning acceptance on her part, and its mirror image, a return visit to Kabul, where the comparable age of the bomber-victim with that of the daughter brings for the mother a kind of paralysis, and a new compassion.
(Tusen ganger god natt)
Country: NOR/EIRE/SW
Technical: col 117m
Director: Erik Poppe
Cast: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Juliette Binoche, Lauryn Canny
Synopsis:
Having taken personal endangerment to new levels with her reportage on Kabul's female suicide bombers, a photo-journalist returns home to Ireland, wounded and dimly aware that she faces an ultimatum from her long-suffering husband and daughters.
Review:
After an arresting opening sequence, this family drama has a lot to live up to, and does not help itself by wasting too much time on peripheral husband and wife stuff: it is the relationship between mother and elder daughter that really counts. Ultimately, though, the film delivers a powerful emotional payload, centred on Binoche's conflicted performance, between her character's need to bear witness to the horrors she photographs, and her love for her family. The culmination of this comes in two scenes towards the end: a presentation given by the daughter, signalling a dawning acceptance on her part, and its mirror image, a return visit to Kabul, where the comparable age of the bomber-victim with that of the daughter brings for the mother a kind of paralysis, and a new compassion.
(Tusen ganger god natt)
Country: NOR/EIRE/SW
Technical: col 117m
Director: Erik Poppe
Cast: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Juliette Binoche, Lauryn Canny
Synopsis:
Having taken personal endangerment to new levels with her reportage on Kabul's female suicide bombers, a photo-journalist returns home to Ireland, wounded and dimly aware that she faces an ultimatum from her long-suffering husband and daughters.
Review:
After an arresting opening sequence, this family drama has a lot to live up to, and does not help itself by wasting too much time on peripheral husband and wife stuff: it is the relationship between mother and elder daughter that really counts. Ultimately, though, the film delivers a powerful emotional payload, centred on Binoche's conflicted performance, between her character's need to bear witness to the horrors she photographs, and her love for her family. The culmination of this comes in two scenes towards the end: a presentation given by the daughter, signalling a dawning acceptance on her part, and its mirror image, a return visit to Kabul, where the comparable age of the bomber-victim with that of the daughter brings for the mother a kind of paralysis, and a new compassion.