Emotional Arithmetic

This film is about three Nazi death camp survivors reuniting 35 years later, arousing deep emotions and provoking old wounds.

I had high hopes for "Emotional Arithmetic". The cast is completely stellar and Oscar worthy. Their performances are all excellent, but unfortunately the plot is not enough to make the a masterpiece. The topic has so much potential to make it a tear jerker, but "Emotional Arithmetic" fails to be captivating. The past is poorly explained, and the present is inadequately described. I think every subplot is not developed to enough detail to evoke inner emotions in the viewers' hearts. The only memorable scene is when Melanie gets shattered by Jakob's reaction when she hands him a gift at the dinner table.

I feel disappointed by "Emotional Arithmetic". It has so much potential to grab and move viewers, but it turns out to be a rather unsatisfying bore.

I liked this movie a lot, however, as in some previous remarks, I feel that they all came up short on where they wanted to go. I agree that more of the past should have been developed, and tied to the characters in the present. For me, it was a bit confusing that it seemed like such a modern time, and I just didn't believe that they had survived the Holocaust. I felt they should have shown more hauntings from the past, and perhaps a bit more clinging to each other, after having survived in the emotional shipwreck of Drancy. I think, perhaps more of their message could have been brought out if they had just spent more time in the scenes from the past. After seeing this movie, I did some research on Drancy and was shocked to learn it was the French, with the approval of the Nazi's, who did this. There should have been more history lessons, I feel, so we could see the larger picture. Anyway, I loved Max von Sydow's portrayal of Jakob, and I liked Susan Sarandon's suffering, but I just felt it seemed to be disconnected from what happened in the past. I was expecting a multi hankie movie, and only shed an occasional tear. All the actors are really good, and this is well worth the money to rent or own, and to open discussions about the atrocities of WWII and the Nazi regime.

My first reaction to this film: It sucks beans.

But I gave it a lot of thought afterwards, and now the morning after, I think it is a very compelling picture worthy of a 2nd watch.

First I'll tell you why I initially hated it, maybe sparing you the misery. Everything about this film is extremely deceptive, setting up emotional expectations that are never fulfilled. The USA title "Autumn Hearts: A New Beginning" is way off the mark, and the DVD packaging is awful, describing it as "a tender love story of redemption, healing and reconciliation." HUH?? Did the marketing department even bother to watch the movie? If you watch this movie expecting a sentimental tear-jerker or a "tender love story", you'll find yourself hurling popcorn at the screen in disgust. It is none of those things, despite the sweeping, lush cinematography and Hallmark-greeting-card setting (complete with melodramatic musical score that does its best to yank our emotions to the surface). Whether deliberate or not, the film is very misleading in that respect.

If not a cryfest, what do you get instead? You get a marvellous, philosophical question that goes to the root of what we are as human beings. What is our job on this planet, and what are our limits of duty vs. survival? The movie investigates four major characters struggling with the same question, each taking a markedly different approach. Four peoples' lives have been twisted out of shape by the injustice of humanity. How do they react? One (Gabriel Byrne) suppresses the trauma under a veneer of British civility & reticence*. Another (Max von Sydow) has had the memories forcibly erased by chemicals and exectroshock experiments, though he still retains an inexplicable connection. A third character (Susan Sarandon) obsessively collects her memories, appointing herself as a sort of librarian of human injustice and in so doing, starts to lose her mind. And a fourth character (Christopher Plummer) is a secondary victim, suffering by association and trying his best to move ahead while realizing the impossibility of that notion.

The dynamic is incredibly well played. There is no clearcut answer, and each character plays against the others hoping to find the route to peace. I didn't find this to be an emotional film but instead a very intellectual puzzle. The original title "Emotional Arithmetic", while not as poetic or appealing as "Autumn Hearts", is definitely more appropriate if you choose to view the film as I described it. It is an almost scientific approach to the manipulation of emotions, bringing us back to the main question: is our job to hold on to the past, like living history books, toruted & martyred for the sake of teaching future generations? Or is our job to bury the ugly face of past injustice and focus on moving forward ourselves? However way you choose, the answer is represented by one (or more) of the four characters.

This film is a slow-paced philosophical soul teaser wrapped up in a bright-coloured (emotional) package. There's definitely a lot going on, much like a Wim Wenders film ("Lisbon Story", "Paris Texas") or a Hirokazu Koreeda film ("Maborosi", "After Life") though not nearly that slow. Another film I might compare it to is "The Shipping News" by Lasse Hallström but that comparison is mainly due to the director's way of using landscape & nature to create a mood. One thing about this film that no one will deny is that the setting (Quebec in the early Autumn) is about as beautiful & dreamy as any place on Earth.

*Yes, I know Gabriel Byrne is Irish, not British!

AUTUMN HEARTS: A NEW BEGINNING is another one of those independent films that lacks an audience until the DVD is released. Granted it is not based on subject matter that titillates the big movie house throngs, but it is a warmly tender film about the emotional effects of historical traumas and how each of our histories molds our lives. It is a superb work on every level. Director Paolo Barzman brings to life the novel 'Emotional Arithmetic' by Matt Cohen (as adapted for the screen by Jefferson Lewis) with a sterling cast of consummate actors. The impact is lasting.

Melanie Winters (Susan Sarandon) lives on a picturesque farm in Canada with her retired university professor husband David (Christopher Plummer) and their grown son Benjamin (Roy Dupuis), an unexplained single father of his own son Timmy (Dakota Goyo) and caregiver for his physically ailing father and mentally fragile mother. Melanie lives in the past: as a child in 1942 she was interned in Drancy, an internment camp outside of Paris where she bonded with a young man Jakob Bronski and an Irish lad Christopher - taking on the responsibility of maintaining the written history of the camp at Jakob's request so that atrocities such as they were witnessing would never occur again ('Always remember'). At one point Jakob turned himself over to the Nazis to allow Melanie and Christopher to be released.

Now, years later, Melanie is still cataloging all of the atrocities in the world as they appear in the newspaper and continues to attempt to find Jakob. Jakob writes to her and soon is arriving in Canada as an elderly man (Max von Sydow), traveling with his surprise guest, the adult Christopher (Gabriel Byrne). It is this visit that reunites Melanie, Jakob, and Christopher that allows closure to their turbulent history and a healing not only for the three survivors but for Melanie's family also. It is as though it took a quiet time in the beauty of nature and the life-sustaining atmosphere of a farm to cleanse these 'autumn hearts' from the anguish of the past.

Not all of the elements of the story are resolved: we never learn much about Benjamin and his state of solo fatherhood, David's private life that so incenses Melanie, etc. But these are minor exclusions in this beautifully sculpted story and film. The cinematography by Luc Montpellier and the musical score by Normand Corbeil capture not only the beauty of the Canadian landscape and lush colors of the farm in autumn, but also heighten the authenticity of the Drancy camp experience in the black and white flashbacks. This is an exceptional film that deserves a wide audience. Grady Harp

it is that film who seems be perfect. not great but giving the right story, the good performances, the correct message, the admirable atmosphere. it is the wise style illustration to exam the past. to exam, at the fair measure, experiences, pains, errors. and the importance of friendship. it is not a remarkable film but one who gives the essence of the relation between old friends and the geography of this long time friendship. a film about the status of the other in your life. simple. honest. and seductive. a film about the truth behind the death. and about the pottery of the past. so, just beautiful. and, maybe, useful.