PROXIMA

France/Germany, 2019, 107 minutes, Colour.
Eva Green, Zelie Boulant, Matt Dillon, Aleksey Fateev, Lars Eidinger, Sandra Huller.
Directed by Alice Winocour.

There may be a difficulty for prospective audiences with such an enigmatic title as Proxima. And there was a difficulty for other prospective audiences when they heard that it was a film about space. Many felt that they were misled, that it is not an action show that they were expecting but rather a domestic drama.

So, the film has to be seen and appreciated as a domestic drama. Yes, the setting is space exploration, but the preparations and training for those who want to go into space. The actual blast off of the rocket occurs only at the end of the film.

This is a story of international collaboration, part of the preparation for eventual travel to Mars, a space experiment where the astronauts will go into space for a year but experience all kinds of potential disorientation, shutting out of the outside atmosphere, learning how to live in the confined rocket, the discovery of how humans could cope with a long journey to Mars.

The central character, the next woman into space (Proxima) is Sarah, played by Eva Green. Sarah has dreamt of being an astronaut since she was a girl, has been accepted into the training program, has been accepted into this particular space venture. Much of the early part of the film shows the rigorous training, the exercise, various pressures, the need for exactness, precision in timing, the adaptation to living in space for a year, loss of gravity, looking at the world upside down, seclusion. There is a pressure on Sarah, expectations of a woman going into space, some unsympathetic attitudes from men, more demanding expectations from the authorities. This creates a great deal pressure, of course, for Sarah.

However, at the core of this story is Sarah’s relationship with her 10-year-old daughter, Stella. There is a strong loving bond, mother and daughter comfortable with each other. But there is also the preparation for Stella that she be separated from her mother for a year, and having to get used to it in the preceding months as her mother goes into intense training, quarantine. Sarah is separated from her husband, Thomas (German actor Lars Eidinger) who agrees that Stella should live with him during this extended period.

In many ways Stella adapts. Sarah is continually concerned. While Stella seems to accept the long separation, the lived reality places strains on her, moving from France to Germany, new school, difficulty with maths, difficulty making friends, with phone calls and Skype with her mother.

An interesting discussion would occur between men and women watching the film, discussing their different attitudes towards Sarah, her ambitions and career, her goals in life, the pressures of separation from her daughter, the appeal to the maternal instincts of the audience.

Eva Green combines both charm and intensity to her performance, a certain edge to her training, to her concern about her daughter – with, finally, a brash decision to take her daughter to see the rocket site as she had promised but had failed to fulfil. A symbolic episode to indicate how the problems might be resolved.

During the final credits, there is a range of impressive photos inserted, a perhaps unexpected number of female astronauts in recent decades, seen with their children.

For those not expecting space exploration and action, Proxima offers an emotional exploration, of mother-daughter love and challenge.

1. The title? The next woman to go into space?

2. The international settings, friends, Germany, Russia, Asian settings, American background?

3. The film as a family drama? Mother and daughter? The emphasis at the end and the names and photos of the women astronauts, their children? The film as a tribute? As an exploration of relationships? Professional and personal?

4. The introduction to Sarah? As an astronaut in training? The details and hard work of the regime? Her always wanting to be an astronaut? Her being chosen, as a woman, some harsh treatment and judgements by the men and authorities? The marriage, separation from Thomas, his engineering background? She French, he German? Her love for her daughter, Stella’s age, the bond with her mother?

5. Sarah as astronaut, her personality, psychology, training, working with the men, the friendship with Mike and his family? The harsh authorities in Russia? The sympathetic co-workers? The Russian astronaut and his friendship?

6. The personal dilemmas for Sarah? The sequences with Stella, the love between the two, the preparation for her going into space? The training, the quarantine, the year in space? The preoccupations for Sarah? Living her with Thomas? The visits? The phone calls? Changing moods of a 10-year-old? The visits to the space station? Quarantine, glass walls? Communication? Stella and her ups and downs? Her bond with her father, living with him, the cat, the difficulties with maths, friends at school?

7. Thomas, relationship with Sarah? Sympathetic character? Willing to take Stella? Life with her, care? Phone calls, the delayed visit?

8. Wendy, her professional role, the interview with Sarah and Stella? Supervising Stella? Sympathetic? The visits to the space station? The serious discussions?

9. Mike, the American style, his wife and children, the separation? The party and picnic? Working with Sarah? Support yet some critique? The role of the superiors, supervisors?

10. The activities, the tests, the stress, Sarah and her wound and she is to not healing, the rescue exercises, the timing? The pressures on her? The literal viewing of the world upside down, experiencing the exclusion of the outside world?

11. Stella’s visit, the promise to show her the rocket, the coming out of quarantine, taking Stella, and the bonding together, the return?

12. The role of the media, the astronauts being celebrities? The photos, the interviews?

13. The nearing deadline, the effect on everyone? The final, getting ready, the media, going to the rocket, settling in? Blast off and the people watching?

14. Some audience disappointment that this was not a space action show, discovering that it was a domestic drama?

15. The final tribute, so many female astronauts, their careers, their family, the children?