Brownian Movement

Dull. Not a long movie, but it feels long. Just drifts from the first minute to the last, and ultimately goes nowhere.

Quite pointless.

I had no idea what this movie would be about. But it played at the Berlin International Film Festival this year and the title sounded intriguing. Plus it did fit into my schedule. It really goes all the way and is pretty harsh and raw. While you never really get into the head of our main actress, she seems to bear it all. So this isn't for the delicate viewers amongst us.

Unfortunately it is not as good as I'd wish it would be. It tries very hard to be something poetic, something that will make you think about things. Philosophical even, if you want to call it that. And while it has really good points, it never achieves its goal.

This movie is simply fantastic. Shots are incredibly beautiful with minimalist presentation. Delicate and sensitive. Loyal yet uncompromising. The moves by the protagonist are bold and way ahead of our times. Let's not be the arbiter of "morality" here. Passing judgement based on the male perspective of what the characters are expected to do or by the cultural standards that we have grown accustomed to or expect, is juvenile. If you are conditioned enough to look for messages in a movie then you are missing the forest.

This is an exceedingly fine film. It explores issues that arise when a marriage is put under a "pressure test" – through its exploration of cause and effect it raises the challenging question of 'what is the nature of marriage?' The issue is "what is enough?' as one of the characters asks. As the wife and husband cope with events the camera focuses on their faces for very long durations of time; this is done in total silence so we, the viewer, is given the luxury of having time to explore our own thoughts about the progress of the film, and how each character does (or one thinks, should) react.

This film flies its 'Art House' flag with pride, being slow and low key (but beautifully set and filmed). It is a film in which deep thought has gone into its making, and to do it justice it deserves the same respect from the viewer. Watch it, and see if it gives you cause to ponder the significant issues that it raises.

Until I watched this film, I considered Marie Antoinette and Forrest Gump to be the two worst movies I had ever seen. Brownian Movement outdoes them.

I only watched it because the description said that to moved to India, my home country. Was curious why they would do that.

The movie has barely and plot AND it makes no sense. Charlotte is married to a very attractive man, as she acknowledges. She also has a good job. Yet, she chooses to hook up with only unattractive men and we don't have a clue why.

The therapy session is superficial. We get no sense of why Max stays with her and has children with her.

About half the movie is comprised of silences. Apparently, the writer and director could not bother to write some helpful dialogue.

PS Another reviewer says that this film manages to make nudity and sex boring. Actually, the top honor for that goes to Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut.