Memory

by Mike McGranaghan

It’s weird and sometimes a little scary how our memories can betray us. There are people who swear they saw a movie called Shazaam in which comedian Sinbad plays a genie. There is no such movie. They remember Nelson Mandela dying in prison. He didn’t. They remember making sandwiches with Jiffy peanut butter, a brand that doesn’t exist. Memory grapples with tricks of the mind, albeit in a more intense manner than those examples.

Recovering addict Sylvia (Jessica Chastain) has an awkward encounter with Saul (Peter Sarsgaard) at a high school reunion. He tries to be friendly; she gets up and walks out. The next morning, she finds him dazed and confused outside the door of her apartment building. Sylvia believes Saul, who has dementia, was part of a group of boys who sexually assaulted her as a teen. He remembers nothing of the sort. The movie charts the unlikely relationship that springs up between them as Sylvia attempts to figure out what’s true and what isn’t.

Memory is very much an internal kind of film. Drama arises from the characters sorting through the morass of their memories. Sylvia begins to wonder if her recollection is wrong. Saul begins to wonder if it’s right, if he really could have done something heinous to her years ago. That certainly isn’t who he is now. In addition to fallible recollections, the story deals with the theme of forgiveness. If Saul doesn’t remember his possible act and feels horrified to learn he might have hurt her, is there a way to achieve absolution? That’s the question she ends up asking herself.

You couldn’t get two better actors for this sort of material. Chastain and Sarsgaard are masters of suggesting the inner emotions of the people they portray. Both make themselves vulnerable in Memory, carrying out scenes that require them to break down at various points. The dynamic created by the actors is powerful, helping us to understand how Sylvia and Saul grow to empathize with each other’s pain. Their work also gets you pondering your feelings toward people who have wronged you in life.

Memory was written and directed by Michel Franco, whose Sundown and New Order are similarly thought-provoking. There are a few instances where his screenplay resolves problems a bit too simply, but it doesn’t matter when he’s tackling material this inherently identifiable. His film, guided by outstanding work from Chastain and Sarsgaard, has sharp insights into how we break, how we heal, and how we occasionally find comfort in the least expected of places.

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