The Forgiven: Film Review
Outside of posters on the tube, I have seen no other publicity for The Forgiven and you have to wonder why its release is so low-key. Perhaps Universal doesn’t expect its 18-rated slow-burning drama to do well (I sadly don’t either).
The film follows David and Jo Henninger (Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain), an unhappily married couple who accidentally hit and kill a young Moroccan boy while driving to a luxury party at their old friend Richard (Matt Smith)’s swanky villa in the Moroccan desert. The drama explores how the boy’s death affects the local villagers compared to the privileged western visitors at the party.
The film focuses on the transformation of David. He is a mean, entitled rich man and highly functioning alcoholic who looks down on others at the beginning of the movie. But he becomes enlightened and a changed man during a trip with the boy’s father Abdellah (Ismael Kanater) and his kind right-hand man Anouar (Saïd Taghmaoui) to honour the boy.
John Michael McDonagh‘s film cuts back and forth between David’s tense journey and the lavish hijinks at the party and the juxtaposition between Abdellah’s austere village and the indulgent, no-expense-sparred soirée is eye-opening. McDonagh has a lot to say about western privilege and conveys this message loud and clear.
If you’ve seen Calvary or War on Everyone, you’ll have some idea of how smart and sharp McDonagh’s screenplay is. The script is witty, rich and darkly funny, with Fiennes, in particular, getting some deliciously wicked and controversial lines of dialogue to say. I couldn’t help but laugh at the audaciously un-PC things that come out of the mouths of some of the guests – the mysterious Tom (Christopher Abbott), British toff Lord Swanthorne (Alex Jennings) and Richard’s quirky partner Dally (Caleb Landry Jones).
Fiennes is the star of the show as he gets the best (and most shocking) dialogue and David, although he is awful, goes on the most interesting journey. Chastain gives him a run for his money as the alluring and seductive Jo and Smith is great fun as the camp and extremely posh host. I also liked Taghmaoui and Mourad Zaoui as Richard’s butler Hamid as they are the warmest and most normal characters on screen.
I’m not entirely sure who will go to see this at the cinema. Fiennes, Chastain and Smith are big names that might draw some people in but I don’t know if the premise itself will entice big crowds (especially with that 18 rating). It is a slow-burning adult drama that you don’t get in cinemas these days and it was refreshing to see one. However, it feels much longer than its two-hour runtime, has a few too many jumps between the two locations and the ending felt anticlimactic.
The cast and screenplay are ace but I hoped for more from The Forgiven and it didn’t deliver upon my expectations.
In cinemas from Friday 2nd September