THE WAIT/ L’ATTESA
Italy/France, 2015, 97 minutes, Colour.
Juliette Binoche, Lou de Laage, Georgio Colangelli.
Directed by Piero Messina.
It may be safe to say that The Wait and audience response will depend very strongly on taste. Those wanting a quietly intense portrait of people, will find much to commend it. For those who get fidgety, even when there is a long pause, and find this ponderous - probably best not to go to see it.
This is a French- Italian production, located in Sicily, with the central characters speaking both Italian and French. The locations are very attractive, a mansion, the mountains, with a lake.Much of the action takes place within the mansion, initially all boarded up after a funeral, some moments in letting in the light, but a difficult future which may or may not let in more light.
The film opens with a funeral, some Catholic iconography (which also comes back later in the film as the town celebrates Holy Week with one of those elaborate processions, the carrying of a statue, candles galore, crowds and the men of the town in procession covered with cloaks and masks).
Then we see the mother, played with some intensity by Juliette Binoche. She is bereft, a recluse, taking to her bed. Then the phone rings, a call from her son’s girlfriend, Jeanne, played by Lou de Laage. Jeanne has been invited by the son to come to visit. Jeanne has no idea what has happened and continually makes phone calls to him (and in her pleading, we learn about the ups and downs of the relationship).
The wait of the title concerns the mother’s reluctance to tell Jeanne what has happened, the delay leading to even further hesitation, and a dramatic wait that makes it more difficult for her to tell the truth, even as she is warned and advised by Pietro, the older handyman who looks after the estate. Jeanne, having no idea, is dressed cheerfully, communicates cheerfully even as she interiorly anguishes about where her boyfriend is.
What happens is that the mother becomes very friendly with Jeanne, making her meals, accompanying her for walks in the woods, making a special cake, having two young tourists to dinner, preparing an Easter dinner.
The culmination is not what we might have been expecting although Pietro acts in a way that will bring home the truth to Jeanne.
Those who enjoy a contemplative kind of film, where the director indulges in very long pauses, even within conversations, and especially before replies, who focuses in close-up on great detail within rooms, and have the patience to stay with this contemplation, will find an art-house dramatic portrait of two women.
1. The title, the waiting of the plot? For each of the central characters?
2. The style of the film, slow, pace, slow motion, long pauses, focus on small detail, contemplative? The musical score?
3. The audience supplying feelings and thoughts for the central characters as they watch facial expressions, body language, pauses?
4. Sicily, the landscapes, the mountains, the pools? The house, interiors? The church, the procession through the town? The lake in the woods?
5. Anna, the presence of Juliette Binoche, the opening, her grief, dressed in black, closing the house, the funeral? Her relationship with Pietro, relying on him? Recluse, taking to her bed, remembering the past? Visiting Giuseppe’s room?
6. Jeanne, phone call, arrival, Pietro meeting her at the airport? The drive, the statue of the virgin and the hands, later seen during the procession? The lone drive, eating alone, her room, the continued phone calls to Giuseppe, no answer? The revelation of her relationship through the phone calls, the offence during the summer, his forgiveness, his invitation for her to come? Visiting his room?
7. Jeanne meeting the sister-in-law, meeting Anna?
8. Jeanne is very cheerful, her clothes, manner?
9. Pietro urging Anna to tell the truth? Her delay, his disapproval? Warning Anna at the dinner, his packing, leaving, leaving Giuseppe’s phone for Jeanne to find?
10. Anna not telling, her conversations with Jeanne, the friendship, the story of her meeting her husband, Jeanne’s hopes? Anna’s story, the hitchhiking, the marriage, the years, seeing her husband’s lover, the divorce, his mother having the confidence also to divorce, living with her son? As Anna was doing?
11. The passing of the days, the walk, and her going for a swim, the meals, drinking wine or not? Her feeling more at home? But the phone calls to Giuseppe?
12. Swim, the boys, in the water, inviting them to dinner, the gay young man, her dancing with him, Anna’s look, the other man, the peck on the cheek? Anna saying that there were possibilities for Jean?
13. Easter, anxiety, and preparing the dinner, telling Jeanne that Giuseppe did not want her, that he had gone, had not forgiven her? Anna urging Jeanne to live a life, fall in love,
forget Giuseppe?
14. Anna, the procession, at home, imagining her son, the bath, the conversation, her searching for him amongst the masked men?
15. Jeanne packing, discovering the phone, hearing Anna’s call to her son, realisation?
16. The embrace between the two women – and to what future?
