Closed for Winter

This beautiful tale of a woman Elise coming to terms of accepting the disappearance of her sister Frances is one of those movies that you will never understand if you don't listen to the dialogues attentively, which makes the movie even more interesting because there is no clear cue as to what really happened to the character whom the central emotions of desperation, longing, melancholy and even confusion revolve around.

The way the movie presents its conflict is flashback. Flashback is a great tool to present two realities that are quite complex. In this movie it is used effectively through the aid of great cinematography. There are moments when flashbacks are too lengthy to be useful to the message the film tries to convey but overall, it was used in a palatable manner.

One problem I find the movie is characterisation. There are characters that are confusing as to how they are related to the one another because the characters themselves are off-tangent and exaggerated but acted in a restrained and underwhelming manner. Especially The doctor, Elise's love interest.

Overall, the film is beautiful. Quite dark but beautiful. If you pick up the cues, you'd probably know more than Elise as she seems too oblivious of the fact that her sister was giving her signs that something wasn't going well with her life that possibly led to her disappearance. In the movie the resolution is as unclear as the the conflict but true to what the film is suggesting that in grieving and moving on, you do not need to know all the intricate details, you just need to do it to better yourself.

Simply beautifully filmed, with Natalie Imbruglia as Elise, who has lost her sister under mysterious circumstances in 1987. They live on Semaphore Beach in Australia, she now lives with her mother who wallows in deep depression from loss of her husband, and then her eldest daughter Frances.

Elise wonders what happened to her sister as they went to the beach daily the summer Frances disappears. She works at an aimless job at a movie theater, models for her friend who asks why she wastes time dating Marvin. "he loves me, he really does" she wants things simple. She imagines at times seeing her sister at a nightclub, or walking the beach.

The set decoration is realistic, Elise's mother a waitress lets the house go when husband dies, the pink and green tile and cheap paint in kitchen reflect a kind of disorder. Elise's mother spends the next 20 years cutting out news articles about other missing children.

The beach itself portrays a sense of loss, then renewal after turmoil...seems trite but it isn't in this film: there is no real answer to anything, it is like having a loss in real life.

I lost my mother to an accident in the 1990's and I suppose this film has special cadence for me. The loss, why did it happen...we see all of this as Elise wanders the beach, lives a half existence with her depressed and depressive mother.

This is a niche film, it should be seen a few times to pick up the hints and nuances. Ultimately Elise finds internal spirit, it is subtle but we see as she plants the seaweed garden and moves on with life: it is never easy but somehow people go on, and Elise moves forward deciding not to live within the pain any longer. Highly recommended, especially for anyone who has felt deep loss. 10/10.

The film's plot, such as it is, revolves around a teenage or pre-teen girl named Frances, who disappeared some twenty years ago and the profound effect it had and continues to have on her mother and younger sister, Elise. Elise is now an adult but we have flashbacks throughout the film.

Eventually some extremely vague hints are made regarding some things that might have happened to Frances prior to her disappearance - but nothing is ever clearly stated.

So what happened to Frances? Well, nobody ever really says - suicide, murdered, snatched by someone, or ran off? Just go with whichever one of those strikes you.

The film is more watchable than some films out there - but I would not particularly recommende it. What it mostly has going for it is that it contains no graphic sexual or violent scenes.

4 Stars