A family copes with the loss of their mother in Scandi talent Joachim Trier's first English-language feature. By Peter Debruge. Chief Film Critic. Switching to English is no trouble for Trier, who studied at the U. Popular on Variety. Huppert barely appears in the film, haunting the edges like some sort of ghost, viewed slightly differently by everyone who remembered her โ precisely the sort of formally intriguing challenge at which Trier excels, considering the way he shuffles chronology and perspective.
Meanwhile, older sibling Jonah Jesse Eisenberg , once again typecast as the neurotic academic seems more well adjusted at first, having just fathered an infant son, though he clearly has no shortage of issues to work through as well.
Isabelle put her work before her family, presumably using its political importance to justify the addiction she felt to the front lines. Early on, the film identifies most strongly with Gene, but in time, it shifts to each of his sons before finally settling on Conrad.
At first, Johan has more encouraging words for Conrad, but then, in a horrifying conversation on the school bleachers, we realize just how scarred and cynical his older brother is.
Here, it hardly matters that Isabelle worked as a front-line shutterbug. Home Film Festivals. May 17, pm PT. By Peter Debruge Plus Icon. Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic askdebruge.
