Incendies

Wow. What a masterful piece of film directing this is. I won’t lie, it took around 30 minutes for me to, not only be engaged by the relationship between Nawal and her children, but also properly understand how it was switching between their stories. Nawal and Jeanne looked very similar at the beginning and so I actually got quite confused with how it would seamlessly switch between different time periods. However, once I got the jist, this is just excellent. It’s so quintessentially Villeneuve and I love it.  First, the story is just so incredibly layered and emotional. Explores themes of motherhood, family relationships, religious beliefs and conflict, war, world affairs, heritage, and identity. It’s astounding story-telling and scriptwriting.  Second, stylistically there is so much I love about this. The cinematography, the way it uses big titles to signify new chapters or locations in either Nawal or Jeanne’s story, the soundtrack as well - I just love it so much. The story is great on face value, but the way Denis Villeneuve has directed it, has propelled it to whole new heights. Now, this review is going to get slightly confusing so bear with me. Basically, I wrote a paragraph about how I didn’t think part of the first twist, was a twist. I found it so blindingly obvious (I’m not talking about the incest part. You’ll realise which bit I’m talking about when you read the paragraph). So, I’m going to leave in the critical paragraph I wrote, just so you can grasp how much I couldn’t see the ACTUAL twist coming. Here it is: [My second issue is I didn’t like how Jeanne didn’t even consider that her and Simon could be the children of Abou Tarek. I understand that in her position (after she had spoken to the janitor), she wouldn’t want to think that way, but she didn’t have it confirmed that it was only one baby, and she knew her and Simon were looking for both their father and their brother, so surely she would consider it an option. The film then built up them finding it out from the nurse to be some huge twist. It just felt strange because it was very evident to the viewer, due to scenes at the beginning, that this had to be the case - it wasn’t a twist at all for anyone that has been paying attention. It was a huge twist for Jeanne and Simon of course so it’s not a major issue, but it was built up and revealed like it was a twist to us which was kind of weird. It was a twist for the viewer 15mins ago when she was speaking to the janitor, so why didn’t the film reveal that twist for Jeanne and the viewer simultaneously at that point. Would’ve worked way better in my opinion.] I can’t believe I wrote that in hindsight because that ending is just absolutely mental. I knew it felt weird. Something felt off. But I didn’t catch on AT All as to why. I obviously take back what I said in that paragraph. It actually misdirected me even more and made the final reveal even more mental. Those final scenes reading the letters are just heart wrenching but in a really strange way. Should I be sad? weirded out? content? Vindicated in a strange kind of way? I really don’t know. All I know is, it’s incredible to see unfold. I always feel weird giving 5/5’s after one watch but this just has to be. Can’t wait to rewatch though and see if I still think it’s 5/5, even if I know the twist. 100% recommended.