Father of My Children - the aftermath

So I saw Father of My Children last night. Good grief! — that about sums it up. It's very good, but oh so terribly, quietly sad. I don't know that I've been that wrung out by a film in a very long time. I won't say anything about the plot, because I loathe people spoiling movies in advance, and I wasn't quite expecting what happened myself. I was expecting sad, but not that sad.

Yet it's not by any means an effusive film, as all the reviews will tell you — but I found it all the more heartbreaking for being so "undemonstrative" and uncoercive, for the stricken perseverance of the characters. I do often appreciate the way European films portray emotion (maybe just because it's more the INFJ way) — there's no gushing drama, it's more subtle, more restrained, in ways I find far more devastating (eg Four Months, Three Weeks, Two Days — most seriously depressing film ever).

But the film isn't all sad, parts of it are full of warmth and genuinely beautiful — it brings true the line from the film Shadowlands "the pain then is part of the happiness now". And the family never crumbles into despair, they rally to keep joy and love alive, which has it's own sadness.

The acting, particularly from the children, was quite superb. I also really liked the music. Usually I am too absorbed in the story and characters the first time around to even consciously notice the music of a film, but it swelled into my consciousness in places during this one. When driving through Sweden you even hear a guitar version of Greensleeves playing, which probably sounds cheesy, but it's lovely (and I have just discovered you can actually listen to it if you click here — go and let it play through!).

I'm considering going to see this film again on general release, to gather up more of the goodness.