Memoir Of War

La Douleur (Memoir Of War) / Emmanuel Finkiel (2017). French. Based on the 1985 autobiographical novel by Marguerite Duras, this masterful film is an immersive experience in the mind of a woman trying to survive and save her husband arrested by the Gestapo in Paris during the Nazi occupation during WWII. The story is divided into two parts, each about an hour in length. While seeking information about her husband Robert who had been part of a resistance cell, she meets a French collaborator who recognizes her as the famous writer and who offers her information and promises her his aid in getting her husband fair treatment in return for meeting him for lunch several days a week. He never asks for sex, as she expected he would, so Marguerite begins to suspect that he is using her to get to the other cell members. The second half takes place after the liberation of Paris and the end of the war in Europe when the survivors of Nazi imprisonment begin to return and their families suffer a period of waiting - waiting at home for their loved ones to return from war, a role reserved mostly for woman throughout history. The more the waiting period is stretched, the more torturous it becomes. Toward the end, a new theme emerges: the developing news of the Holocaust and the reluctance of the French to acknowledge or speak about it. On camera for just about every frame is Mélanie Thierry as Marguerite in a deeply felt, lived in performance. She is unforgettable. One caution: this film can easily be described as “deliberately paced.” For some viewers it may be impossibly slow and dull, like when we spend several minutes in a tracking shot as Duras walks down a Paris street while Thierry’s voice-over reads from Duras’ book. I love it, but some may think it indulgent. So be warned if this film making style doesn't appeal to you. Otherwise, this may be one of the great films of this decade. Highly recommended.