Noi due sconosciuti

If you've seen her 2006 melodrama, "After the Wedding", you can clearly tell this is a Susanne Bier film as her signature style can be seen in the hand-held camera-work, the unexpected jump cuts and the heavy use of close-ups on the physical features of her principal actors during the most cathartic moments. The Danish-born director is an apt choice to guide this somber 2007 drama dealing with grief and addiction in the aftermath of an unexpected death. Showing the unfiltered responses to life-altering experiences appears to be Biers' specialty since that is exactly the focus of both films. This time, the set-up sounds more appropriate as the subject of a Lifetime TV-movie, but despite some severe contrivances, first-time screenwriter Allan Loeb is able to elevate the film by imbuing the situation with surprising candor and making the principal characters credibly flawed. Bier's distorted timeline is a bit of a nuisance at the outset, although this luckily becomes less of an issue as the movie progresses.

The plot hinges on the Good Samaritan death of Steven Burke, a successful Seattle-based real estate developer whose sense of decency and devotion inadvertently triggers a series of events leading to the tragedy. Left behind are two broken people - his angry, emotionally fragile wife Audrey, who has two small children to raise by herself now, and his close friend Jerry Sunborne, a one-time lawyer who has become a full-blown junkie constantly strung out on heroin in a depressing SRO unit downtown. Even though Audrey is distrustful of Jerry, Steven has remained loyal - a point of contention that after Steven's death, motivates Audrey to invite Jerry to stay in her half-finished garage after the funeral. Their relationship becomes confused but at least, it does not make a predictable turn toward a romance. Instead, we witness Audrey's almost instantaneous dependency on Jerry and her subsequent resentment of him when he becomes a father figure for her children. From that point, it becomes gradually clearer that both need to move forward with their lives in light of their personal limitations.

As Jerry, Benicio Del Toro inhabits his role to maximum effect, bringing a haunted quality that he leavens with his natural charisma. He is particularly harrowing during his character's detoxification, and you can't help but root for his recovery no matter how uncertain it may be. Finally challenged by a role comparable to her breakthrough in Marc Forster's "Monster's Ball", Halle Berry does an admirable job in portraying Audrey's prickliness while maintaining a sympathetic core. At the same time, she is saddled with more of the plot contrivances than Del Toro and has a breakdown scene that feels a bit too calculated. David Duchovny's natural likability helps make Steven more than just an elliptical plot device, though his screen time is understandably limited to brief flashbacks. Alexis Llewellyn and Micah Berry (no relation to Halle) believably play Audrey's children, while John Carroll Lynch (the prime suspect in "Zodiac") provides welcome comedy relief as the Burkes' jogging neighbor, a real estate broker who wants to help Jerry turn his life around. Even though his character is supportive to the point of being idealized, Omar Benson Miller effectively plays Audrey's too-good-to-be-true younger brother, and Alison Lohman ("White Oleander") shows up late in the film as a persistently inquisitive recovering addict.

The 2008 DVD is relatively sparse on extras. There is no commentary track from Bier or the principal actors, but there is a twenty-minute making-of featurette, "A Discussion About 'Things We Lost in the Fire'", which features comments from Bier, Loeb, producers Sam Mendes ("American Beauty") and Sam Mercer, Berry, Del Toro, Duchovny, Lohman and Miller. Most of the focus is on Bier and Mendes who discuss getting the film off the ground, how she works with the actors and how the look of the film was achieved. Running about nine minutes, seven deleted scenes are included, mainly filler dialogue scenes that were understandably excised except for one with Jerry and a fellow addict out on the streets. The last extra is the original theatrical trailer. By the way, the film's title refers to Audrey's emotional catharsis when she reads an inventory list of things that were destroyed in the garage during an electrical fire prior to Steven's death.

Went to a preview of this movie last night. I was blown away by the powerful performances of Benicio Del Torro and Halle Berry. Del Torro's performance was particularly moving - his best ever and Halle Berry definitely delivers. This is the story of a woman who appears to have been so invested in her husband as the center of her universe that when she tragically loses him, she turns to his best friend (who she has hated for years) to keep from losing her connection to her husband. In the course of events, she discovers the redeeming qualities her husband had always seen in him.

Del Torro gives a poignant performance of a drug addict who struggles to change his life after the loss of his best friend - with quiet dignity. A must see at least once. Although the movie is long, I can't imagine cutting one moment of this powerful story. Cinematically it's superb.

Everyone who knows anyone who has struggled with addiction will be gripped by the performance of Del Torro.

When loving husband Brian Burke (David Duchovny) gets unpurposefully murdered, when interfering with a couple's fight, his wife and mother of two Audrey (Halle Berry) is left to cope all by herself. Brian does leave a sizable amount of money, which guarantees her legroom, but the tragic death remains unbearable. Brian's best friend Jerry Sunborne (Benicio Del Toro) is a recurring drug addict, kept away from the family, but he nonetheless visited and helped out despite the spiralling downfall. The funeral of his friend serves as a way of connecting Audrey with Jerry, who ultimately takes in on herself to save him from the untimely narcotic fate.

In my mind Susanne Bier remains one of the most massively overrated modern-day directors. Essentially an executor of high-end dramatic drivel her most major flaw comes from attempts of integrated foreign elements into her story (the good doctor in Africa in "Haevnen" or an Afghanistan POW back-story in "Brodre") with such infantilism and well-intentioned but borderline misguided racism, that blow-back is inevitable. Nonetheless Sussane Bier is extremely effective and in-depth at uncovering frailties of family life, however any ventures outside her safety zone of first world reality are true calamities in her work.

Her fortunately the material stays close to home, giving a strong dramatic back-drop of the disruptive relationship of harrowing widow and recovering drug-addict. Nonetheless "Things We Lost in the Fire" feels at times like a compassionate top shelf family drama, occasionally glossy and with hints of soap opera, where the overall impact is increased by the powerful performance of Benicio del Toro. Every inch of his body aches and reacts, giving a truly masterful role, which is a real must. Whereas the story itself is intriguing, but somewhat unmemorable, images of del Toro and the pain, longing or remorse reverberating throughout his whole body is something that truly needs to be admired.

Bier tells a sensitive story of grieving and dealing with loss. The theme is quite heavy. While many have criticized the film for its slow pace and yes, Bier does take her time to tell the story, I did not see that as a disadvantage because this allows the viewer to really see the depth of the characters and how these people were deeply affected by tragedy.

A lot of it depends on the actors' performances. Their emotions look raw. Halle Berry is wonderfully restrained. This is the first superb performance of hers I have seen since 'Monster's Ball'. Not that she's been less than satisfactory in anything else but here she is given a well written part in a long time. Benicio Del Toro is fantastic too. Both capture the essence of their characters and interestingly portray Audrey's and Jerry's different ways of dealing with grief. Moreover, Jerry has to face the additional challenge of fighting his addiction. John Caroll Lynch, David Duchovny and Alison Lohman provide great support. The child actors are brilliant too.

On the technical side, it is a well-made film. The cinematography is good. The background score is gentle and 'quiet'. The sets are quite appealing. I liked the Audrey's house.

'Things We Lost In The Fire' is a strong depiction of grief. The theme might be a little too heavy for some and not everyone seems to 'get' it but it is a well-intentioned great movie that tells a moving story.

I think a lot of people are skipping "Things We Lost In The Fire" because they think it is going to be depressing. While the film is definitely sad, it is not depressing because it is about coping and surviving in the face of tragedy. It is one of the best films of the year.

Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro give amazing performances and it is unfortunate that there are not more films that take advantage of their talents. I bet Halle Berry would not make so many bad films if she were given more scripts like this. The photography and directing are first rate.

If you have enough interest in this movie to be reading this review, you need to run out and see "Things We Lost In The Fire." This is a film about the things that matter most in life. It will lose much of it's impact on video, so you need to see it on the big screen while you can.