Reconstruction

In Copenhagen, the photographer Alex (Nicolaj Lie Kaas) is the boyfriend of Simone (Maria Bonnevie) and the Swedish painter Aimee (Maria Bonnevie) is the wife of the writer August Holm (Krister Henriksson). When Alex meets Aimee in a bar, they have one night stand and falls in love for each other. However, on the next days, Alex is forgotten by his girlfriend and friends, and sees his world vanishing and his romance with Aimee re-initiating.

"Reconstruction" is an intriguing and surrealistic romance that follows the school of David lynch. All the characters are needy of love, and one possible interpretation (actually my interpretation) for the plot is that August is writing his novel inspired in the needy of his wife an muse Aimee that feels lonely with his constant absence due to his lectures and meetings with his editor Monica. He develops and affair of the character Aimme with the also fictional Alex, a man that has difficulties to commit with and believe in love, being hard for him to say "I love you" to Simone. When Alex meets Aimee, he leaves his past relationship behind but it is hard for him to believe in the love of Aimee and he loses her, and the magic of their love is never accomplished. If the viewer is seeking an original screenplay raising many questions without much explanation and open to interpretation, supported by great performances and wonderful cinematography and music score, he or she will certainly love this little gem. Last but not the least, Maria Bonnevie is a very pretty and seductive woman. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Reconstrução de um Amor" ("Reconstruction of a Love")

"Reconstruction" was an excellent movie. Some have renounced it for its little tricks. Shame on them. While the little tricks themselves weren't impressive, they contributed to the film's ideas. Maria Bonnevie was enchanting. Interestingly, when I left the theater, I felt as though I knew (and perhaps loved) Aimee even though she was a construction, a fiction about whom next to nothing was revealed. In this manner, Alex and I bonded although there is no Alex. This movie was something that viewers can feel. I loved the skepticism. I enjoyed belong dazzled by the beauty only to have it taken away. Was it ever there? There is an honesty in "Reconstruction" that is rare in cinema. This movie wasn't especially subtle in its nihilism, which was fine. Anything more subtle would have been wasted on many, maybe even me. Who knows?

Essentially the story of a novelist who imagines a young man, named Alex, as the protagonist of his rather existentialist novel, Reconstruction blends the joins between two separate realities (the novelist's imaginary context makes up the third). Director Christoffer Boe basically omits any detail that would add distinction to his construct, instead keeping everything vague and non-committal enough to string the audience along. The glue that holds his construction together is Maria Bonnevie, cast as Everywoman in the men's imaginations (Aimee the wife and muse of the Phillip Roth style novelist; Simone, the young protagonist's girlfriend). Ms. Bonnevie displays a subtle sense of the difference between playing a woman and playing a romanticised view of a woman. As the wife she is mostly quietly dissatisfied, as the romanticised object of affection she is often lost, promiscuous and dependent on men; her Simone is somewhat less clearly drawn but is also a bit of a red herring to the main narrative. She has a beautiful, strong featured, cinematic face that she uses to great effect with accomplished neutrality that works particularly well in this context.

While Reconstruction has some clever, sometimes startling imagery-particularly in the shadowy motif of a figure in freefall-none of the characters emerge much beyond stick figures or chess pieces in Boe's elaborate yet superficial exploration of what, one presumes, are matters of the heart. Nicolaj Lee Kaas, as Alex, makes a rather charmless protagonist; unlike Bonnevie, Kaas seems inexplicably aware of his personal reality in the context of the novelist's imagination, thus it would seem that in Boe's world view there are no romanticised notions of maleness. Kaas is compulsive and promiscuous but is never given the opportunity to explore his predicament much beyond the director's shallow concept. Boe's attempts to play the humour of his Kafkaesque, ‘Alex in Wonderland' scenario fall flat, revealing the shaky foundation of the entire enterprise-it isn't sufficiently compelling to engage us in Alex's fate. Nor anyone else's, for that matter.

Reconstruction is most likely to appeal to younger, less experienced filmgoers for whom the bait and switch narrative techniques will seem more substantial; otherwise the film plays out with the opaqueness of an extended, overlong perfume advert. For all its elegance, the inclusion and reliance on Barber's overused Adagio feels like a major cheat; better that the narrative itself provoked an emotional response instead of the orchestra. Boe is a young filmmaker who may be one to watch but a certain maturity of purpose is in order. That said, Reconstruction is a major winner for the Copenhagen Board of Tourism.

It took me nearly 15 minutes to get into this movie. But (gladly!) once it grasped me, there was no turning back. This is an 'existential angst' inspired masterpiece; a movie with more questions than answers. And, it was also a movie that, quite frankly, I wished hadn't ended so soon. Yes... I definitely enjoyed it that much! 'Reconstruction' was as psychologically perplexing as it was beautifully haunting. And I now find it hard to fault it. So... I won't.

However, as is the case with most of the movies I adore, I doubt that all people would concur with my estimation. That being said, it would definitely appeal to someone who enjoyed Memento; or maybe even Irreversible.

The core theme explored in this movie is that of knowing oneself and those close to you: Appearance versus reality. The true existentialist never finds profound comfort in the purportedly comfortable. For there are often surprises to be found on deeper reflection... I shall say no more. But if you've just digested a couple of chapters of 'Being & Nothingness', I could think of few better ways to further lose yourself in the problems of the mind and existence, than to watch this film afterwards.

The acting, screenplay, direction, score, filming and production all very much made the grade. Overall, Reconstruction is a psychologically challenging movie that any thinker should profoundly enjoy (once, that is, one gets into the psychological mysteries which unfold). Albeit, to paraphrase another reviewer: the intellectually challenged, and/or those who need all questions resolved in any movie, should hastily move along to another film.

I saw this movie at the London Film Festival, introduced by Boe the director and the beautiful Bonnevie, the lead actress. Boe is a graduate of the Danish film school and, as you might expect, the film is packed with movie references from Bergman to Hitchcock via Lynch. I hope the movie picks up a UK distributor as a second viewing is needed to understand the movie fully. On one viewing alone, this is an intelligent, intriguing and thought provoking movie with an excellent sense of time and place (Copenhagen, the present, even though no-one seems to have a mobile phone!), clever cinematography and editing and good performances. Boe creates a vision of Copenhagen as a labyrinthine, alien jungle where your front door may disappear and your friends have never seen you before.

Highly recommended