Film Review: Everybody Knows Captures The Quietness of Loss
SYNOPSIS: Laura, a Spanish woman living in Buenos Aires, returns to her hometown outside Madrid with her two children to attend her sister’s wedding. However, the trip is upset by unexpected events that bring secrets into the open.
Whenever we think of “kidnapping” movies, we think high-octane action and Jason Statham breaking through walls over a sick, Hip Hop soundtrack. In essence, films portray abduction like its an adrenalized instance, even for the victim’s family. Yet, the Spanish film, Everybody Knows, shows it is a painfully quiet “waiting game.”
Once someone you love is taken, you do not become an action hero and run around the continent looking for them. The truth is you spend your days crying, praying, waiting for news, and bickering over boiling familial tensions. The latter might be the most important point of Everybody Knows. Written and directed by Asghar Farhadi, the film is a ripe blend of thriller and family drama; proving that the intensity of a situation lies not only in the actions being committed but also the ones long done.
Penelope Cruz as Laura and Javier Bardem as Paco give me LIFE! This real-life, married couple are making stellar choices when it comes to films where they can star together. Just on their chemistry, the films thrives, especially because they play a couple now long “over” each other. I put “over” in quotations because Everybody Knows is about the lies you tell yourself and others to build your “dream” life. The problem is that if you build a dream on a lie, it is never true. The abduction of Laura’s daughter, Irene (Carla Campra), reveals this, and drags her entire family to reveal all their truths and feelings towards each other to fill the silence of not knowing whether the missing teen will be found alive. The film perfectly captures that certain wounds can only be healed by the person that gave them to you.
When a person is scared, they either “get mean” or “get kind.” While Laura’s family throws tongued daggers and plots betrayals, Paco becomes the kindest. Bardem adds a nobility to the “servant’s son,” which is how Laura’s once wealthier family refers him. For all that he has accomplished for himself and done to help this family that contracted his mom as a maid, he is never seen as an equal due in respect and honesty, even by Laura. It is not only the clinking, romantic link that tenses between them, but the socio-economic differences that have marked how they deem truthfulness for the other. For them, the “servant’s son” should hope; after all “help” is in his lineage. (cue eye roll)
As a viewer, you are sucked into Javier’s performance and his ability to make Paco feel like an “everyman.” He embodies all the moments you have done something for someone and been treated like your effort was a “given” that did not need to be thanked. It is in this sentiment Everybody Knows’ true mystery and drama unravels at a pace that is slow and smart. After all, whom is truly friendly or energized when their family member is in danger. Thus, you watch Cruz break down Laura into absolute fragility as she realizes, truly, that “Everybody Knows” her sins, but who, amongst those she knows, is using them against her. See Everybody Knows In Theaters.
