Lacks Emotion

"Emotional Arithmetic" has everything going for it, terrific actors playing deeply wounded characters, rich visuals, and a compelling little known story about the holocaust, so why was I left cold at the end?

The film is the story of Melanie Winters (Susan Sarandon) who as a child was held in an internment camp known as Drancy which was on the outskirts of Paris. Drancy was usually an away station for people who were to be sent to death camps. However Melanie is saved after a man named Jakob switches her name with his. Now all grown up Melanie is living in Canada with her husband David (Christopher Plummer) and she has a son (Canadian actor Roy Dupuis) and Grandson, however she is forever plagued by the memory of Drancy and Jakob and the young boy Christopher whom she fell in love with while staying there. These memories have caused Melanie to become unstable which lead to her having nervous breakdowns.

Then out of the blue, Melanie gets word that both Jakob (Now played by Max Von Sydow as an old man) and Christopher (Gabriel Byrne) are coming to visit. Melanie now has to deal with unresolved issues with her past as well with her husband and son. We learn that Jakob has survived the death camp but at a price, due to constant shock treatments done on him his memory isn't what it used to be, and he also no longer writes which is something he did before. Christopher still carries a torch for Melanie and he always felt their relationship was left unresolved.

Director Paolo Barzman definitely has a great visual eye, many of the outdoor scenes are breathtakingly beautiful, however I felt his direction for the actors wasn't as crisp. For all purposes this should've been Sarandon's movie, she is given so many great moments to be this emotional anchor and at some crucial times she is very effective, but I sensed her overacting an bit and in that way her character never comes off as believable. In the role of Christopher, Byrne isn't given much to do other than remind Melanie of what they had before, he comes off as too passive, but I don't think that is his fault, the whole Christopher/Melanie relationship never gets the kind of payoff it so rightfully deserves. I felt Dupuis was also in the same boat, his character may have been the most understanding or perhaps the most wounded as the son of Sarandon who has to put up with her eccentric behavior but that is never examined for us.

However the two characters we come to understand are the ones played by Plummer and Von Sydow, I would almost recommend seeing this movie just to see these two old pros play off one another. As Jakob, Von Sydow gives us a sad shadow of a man who doesn't seem to remember many of the things Melanie has dedicated her life to not forgetting. It's a tragic and subtle performance. As Melanie's literary professor husband, Plummer plays David as a bitter man trying desperately to compete with his wife's tragic past.

There were many good scenes in "Emotional Arithmetic" but to look at the film as a whole, it was disappointing, it ends with a whimper, and I felt it was headed for something a bit more substantial.

Incidentally "Emotional Arithmetic" is a Canadian film which debuted in September at the Toronto Film Festival. I'm not sure if it has been released wide around North America yet but I believe I read of an April release date.

2.5 stars out of 4