I'm drawn to films that ask the big questions and am always disappointed when they end with the answers in shiny, prepackaged bundles, pocket sized so we can take them with us. Those tiny, feel good endings usually end up disintegrating in the laundry and are soon forgotten. What is, or rather, where is the point? Where is the edge that keeps us alert, provoking us to dig deeper into ourselves for answers? In my view, that's the point of art.
Smoking/Non-Smoking is a provocative, uncompromising film. If you allow yourself to experience, as I did, the seat-squirming discomfort of seeing up close an unflattering side of yourself in the very human, believable characters in the film. Who among us does not pass judgment on another's weakness, vanity, self-centeredness or self-righteousness? And here the lure to judge a self-centered wife and mother opens up a Pandora's's box of cultural vipers -- even with our best efforts to remain neutral and objective.
The film can be described as a tense, courtroom drama and morality tale about individual responsibility, the context of which is the accusation that the death of a husband was caused by the second hand smoke of the wife (the human inferno played with volatility and conviction by Lucie Arnaz). The twist, it's the 24 year son who is the accuser.
But all this is only to set the stage to ask profoundly deep questions about relationships within our families, our communities and in the courtrooms and deliberating halls of justice which are to act when we fail to do the "right" thing.This film dares to ask the question: How far can I carry my individual desires, pleasures and addictions? Through courtroom cross examinations and expert witness testimonies, intense arguments by a diversity of jurors with varying perspectives, life experiences and temperments, and private conversations between son and mother, lawyers and clients, we arrive at the limits of what our logical minds can hold and are wrenched by the emotions that surface when we are charged with no less than a deliberation on "love," especially a mother's love. Our relationships are a muddle --- not only for the family in the film, but glimpses into the lives of the jurors show that they, too, have their vulnerabilities and challenges.
The integrity of the film is marked by keeping our toes to the fire. The scenes are almost all shot in interior rooms with windows that don't open, close-ups, bathrooms in which we are looking at the characters' reflections in the mirrors, and bedroom scenes --- all suggestive of the intimacy of human relationships and the pain, joy and suffering we can cause one another. The opening scene is a tender one of a mother (one of the jurors) and her daughter and is repeated again at the end. This is an ever so light brush stroke which demonstrates the potential and possibility for all of us to care for one another. There are a number of surprises along the way I won't give away. Go see it and be challenged. It's worth it!
