Fabiennen muistelmat

Sometimes the truth hurts. Unfortunately, that’s not the case here. The drama, which deals with the ambiguity and relativization of truth and an unreliable memory that can reshape the truth hidden in our memories over time, is based on the relationship between a mother, an arrogant and smug famous actress at the end of her career, and a daughter who preferred to flee away from her overseas, all her life blaming her for her constant disregard and contempt. However, relatively little has been extracted from this promising and potentially very significant conflict, as the film maintains a peaceful atmosphere from beginning to end and instead of confronting catharsis, it wraps itself with literal metaphors and the relationships between reality and the fictional film world. Although the characters gradually reveal more and more information from their past, they do not resolve their mutual disputes and instead double down on the need to use hypocrisy, lies and manipulation, because in their opinion, this is also a functional way to keep the family together (an illusory family and only seemingly cohesive, whose members pretend to be family in private and not family in public). The message of the film is that it is ok to defend such behaviour and that even the youngest generation should learn it, and this message can be described as at least distorted. Despite the film’s sensitive direction and great actors, the end of The Truth leaves a very bitter taste, not only from the processing of the theme, but also from the idea of how great a film it could have been if Hirokazu Kore-eda properly focused on the issue of mutual accusations between the dominant mother and her wronged daughter. (30.09.2020)

I like Kore'eda's work very much, so I didn't hesitate when I came across his first production outside of Japan. The Truth is a film that is based on a solid idea, has a great cast in the lead roles, and amazing music, but somehow the essence of the message is mysteriously lost in the excessive amount of dialogue. Although the film deals with interpersonal relationships, at times it feels surprisingly cold. (65%) (22.02.2022)