TO DUST

US, 2018, 92 minutes, Colour.
Geza Rohrig, Matthew Broderick, Leo Heller.
Directed by Shawn Snyder.

This interesting and entertaining film has touches of the theatre of the absurd.

Geza Rohrig, who appeared in the striking Son of Saul, plays Shmuel, a Cantor in a town in the Hudson Valley, his wife dying, his being consumed with grief, making his two sons tense and anxious.

After the funeral, he wants to understand what happens to the body, its decaying and its return, as the title indicates, to dust. He goes to a salesman at a mortuary who recommends a scientist. He goes to the local community College and encounters Albert, Matthew Broderick, who is giving a class about ecosystems. Albert is puzzled but calls back Shmuel and explains from an illustrated book, the decaying processes for a dead pig (along with visual graphics).

What is Shmuel to do but by a pig and bury it – with Albert’s reluctant help. After a month, it does not decay. Albert speaks about a live pig and what is Shmuel to do but by a live pig, bring it to Albert’s apartment, smother it and then bury it. After another month, no success.

Albert desperately continues with Shmuel, finding an Institute which experiments with corruption of bodies, their visiting, failing to get in – and what is Shmuel to do but dig up his wife, with Albert’s help, and bury her so that she will be one with the earth, fertilising the earth.

There is a background theme with the Jewish tradition of the Dybbuk, Shmuel dreaming about his wife’s toe erupting, the information given that that is where the Dybbuk emerges to inhabit a human, the two sons watch a video, try an exorcism, their father taking them onto a lake where they have to profess their love for their mother, but, at the end, at peace with their father.

1. The title? Death? Scriptural background? Burial, bodies, decay, the purpose of decay? Souls?

2. The American setting, the Hudson Valley, homes, the college, laboratories? The woods, the cemetery? The institution? The musical score?

3. The situation, real, unreal? Comic, the touch of the absurd? Emotion, grief, resolution?

4. The focus on Shmuel, orthodox, cantor, clothes, hair, hat? The death of his wife? His relationship with his sons? The presence of his mother? Death, grief, the burial, the discussions about her soul, about the decay of the body?

5. The visuals of the dead wife, the preparation for burial? Her grave?

6. The mother, coping, helping her son to cope, interfering, the stories of second marriage, the invitation for the widow to come and meet her son?

7. Shmuel, his sons, their being puzzled about what was happening to their father, hearing the theory of the Dybbuk? Possession, the breaking open of the two? The soul possessing a human? Getting the film, watching it, the folklore about the difficult? They’re trying to exorcise their mother’s soul from their father’s foot? Going out on the lake, their fears, their father making them declare their love for their mother? At the end, the father’s return, the happy ending?

8. Shmuel, the dust, the puzzle, having to let his wife go, not able to, the impact of the nightmares, the exploding to and the application of the Dybbuk?

9. His decision to make inquiries, going to the mortuary, the discussion about coffins, metal, wood, the effect? His decision to find a scientist, going to the College, not able to speak with the woman, his sense of sin, writing the notes, going into the class, listening to Albert, Stanley and the other students, the students not paying attention, Albert crashing things from his desk? Shmuel asking the question? Albert’s reaction, calling him back?

10. Albert, getting the book, the story of the pig, the visualising of the decay? Shmuel buying the pig? Getting Albert to help, the burial? The visit at night? The effect on Albert? The phone calls, the month passing, the pig not decaying? Shmuel buying the live pig, bringing it to Albert’s apartment, Albert apprehensive, the landlady, the plastic bag, smothering the pig, burying it? Shmuel and Albert’s questions?

11. The failure of the decay? Discovery of the Institute, their travelling together, the interview with the woman, their lack of credentials, ousted? Outside the wall, talking about the experiments with decaying bodies? Stella, security, talking with her, her explanations?

12. The effect on Shmuel, the decision to dig up his wife, Albert helping him, the burial in the woods? Dropping Albert off after his experience? The discussions about ecosystems, bodies fertilising the earth?

13. Shmuel, the ending, satisfied, letting his wife go, coping with his grief? With his sons?