Unrelated (2007)
Directed by: Joanna
Hogg.
Written by: Joanna Hogg.
Starring: Kathryn Worth (Anna),
Harry Kershaw (Archie), Emma Hiddleston (Badge), Henry Lloyd-Hughes (Jack), Tom
Hiddleston (Oakley), Mary Roscoe (Verena), Michael Hadley (Charlie), David
Rintoul (George), Leonetta Mazzini (Leonetta Mazzini), Giovanna Mennell
(Giovanna Mennell), Jonathan Mennell (Jonathan Mennell).
Joanna
Hogg’s debut film immediately marked her as somewhat different than most
British directors. If you watch a lot of British films, you will either see a
lot of high class period pieces – about kings and queens and nobility, or else
you see a lot of kitchen sink dramas of the working class. Hogg’s film, about
upper middle class English people on holiday in Italy really has more in common
with French and Italian films, than in her own country. This is a film about
the problems of well off white people who feel stifled and trapped in their
lives. It focuses on Anna (Kathryn Worth) – a woman in her mid-40s, an outsider
to this family vacation. She has been invited to come along on holiday by her
oldest friend – Verena (Mary Roscoe) – along with Anna’s husband, who at the
last minute didn’t come along – apparently because of “work”. But it quickly
becomes clear that Anna and her husband are going through a rough patch – we
hear her side of conversations on her cell phone when no one else is around
where it’s clear things are falling apart. While on this vacation, Anna ends up
gravitating more to the “youngs” – than the “olds” – in particular bonding (and
flirting) with Oakley (Tom Hiddleston) – who is somewhere around 20, the son of
Verena’s cousin, also on vacation with them. But how far is she willing to go
with this flirtation – and how far is Oakley?
I
couldn’t help but think of another film, from a few years before Unrelated set
in Tuscany – and that the Diane Lane vehicle Under the Tuscan Sun, directed by
Audrey Wells, where Lane played a divorced woman who moves to Tuscany and finds
happiness and love, and a renewed sense of purpose on that beautiful island.
Other than the setting, and the main character being a middle aged woman in
romantic crises, the two films couldn’t be more different – and yet I couldn’t
help but wonder if Hogg’s film is some sort of commentary on that films – and
films like it. Although this is Hogg’s directorial debut, she was 46 when she
made it – late for a debut feature- but perfect for a film about a woman of
roughly the same age as she is. There had been a wave of these films about
middle aged women getting their groove back (including, of course, How Stella Got
Her Groove Back) – and so when watching Unrelated, I thought of those films,
because Hogg’s approach is so much different. This isn’t going to be an
inspirational story, a story of a woman who remakes herself into something new,
finds new love, new adventures. It’s a sadder story than that.
It’s also
a more mysterious film than those, because Anna doesn’t really confide in
anyone – or the audience – as to just what she is feeling. We know she is lying
because of those phone calls – her marriage is not okay – but other than that,
it’s really late in the film when her issues are truly revealed (in a scene
that is powerfully acted by Worth, who is great throughout, but I also think
somehow lessens the film – it’s better to have to infer what is going on with
her, rather than have her state it). Hogg often prefers long takes in her film
– lots of naturalistic dialogue happening in those shots, with people talking
over each other, etc. You have to pay attention to pick up what precisely
people are saying to each other – and in many cases, what they are not saying.
The film captures the awkwardness of being on vacation sometimes – especially
with other people’s families, and their own dynamics eventually bubble up.
There is a remarkable sequence in which two pf the characters – a father and
son – get into a very loud, extended screaming match – and yet we aren’t in the
room with them. Instead, we’re by the pool with everyone else, all hearing
every word, and powerless to do anything. What do you do in that situation?
What do you say? You probably do what everyone here does – sit awkwardly and
listen, and then pretend you didn’t hear it after.
Worth is
quite remarkable in this film, playing a role that could be considered a cliché
– the middle aged person pretending to be young again by hanging out with the
young people, which will inevitably have led to awkwardness and hurt feelings.
Tom Hiddleston is as good as he’s ever been in the other key role – as Oakley,
the young man who flirts with Anna, but it’s impossible to quite get a read on
him. Does he do this because he’s bored, and she’s there? Does he lead her on?
Or is just nice to be taken somewhat seriously by one of the “olds” – when the
rest of them basically look at him like a child – since they’ve known since he
was one.
Unrelated
is a sneaky film – it creeps up on you, building slowly to something that ends
up being quite powerful. You watch, and you gradually see the cracks appearing
in this happy family vacation, and then it builds to subtle, yet powerful,
climax – before, like what really happens at the end of vacations, you just
pretend that the whole thing never happened, and go back to normal. It marked
Hogg as a special filmmaker from the start.
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