La Grâce

I saw this film at the Berlinale film festival 2012, where it was part of the official Competition section. In the midwinter season with a continuous (night and day) 100% darkness in Hammerfest, a women runs over someone or something when driving home. Rather than leaving her car and going back to see whether someone needs help, she panics. At home she tells her husband, who returns to the spot in question to investigate. He finds no trace of what could have hit the car.

It is not until the next day that they hear about a young girl who died due to a hit and run incident at the very same place, but no evidence was found to trace back who caused her fatal injury. From that moment on, events take their inevitable course and each subsequent step makes it more difficult to come forward. Moreover, a confession does not bring the girl back to life.

This is where my synopsis stops. I want to prevent wasting an ingeniously constructed script, where all ingredients have their proper place. A handful of human elements and sub-plots are thrown in, though not making it overly complex to follow. An example of a human element is that we observe the woman when at work in a hospital, while terminally ill patients are taken care of. A smaller sub-plot is that we see the husband at work in a "gas factory", where he has a love affair with a colleague.

A more important sub-plot (in light of the title) is that the son takes part in pestering an alleged gay schoolmate. It causes the latter to drop school prematurely. The son regrets his part in the bullying, and he visits the victim at home, in search for some form of "mercy". The confrontation does not work out as he would have wanted, however.

Is it a drama or a thriller?? Or both?? On one hand it is a drama, because everyone tries to find the best way to cope with the situation, not necessarily the human or moral best thing to do, yet they struggle to find a way out. On the other hand it is also a thriller, because throughout the full 2 hours and 10 minutes you want to know what will happen next.

The whole story spans from midwinter (100% darkness, night and day) to midsummer (the reverse), all of that located in Hammerfest, offering a colorful but harsh landscape. We knew of its existence but we never had the chance to see it with our own eyes. It forms a perfect location for the drama that we see developing. And there is the even-so perfect combination of human elements, a few sub-plots and a wonderful collection of actors. Finally, I sincerely hope that above text does not give away too much about the thriller elements, since the built-in surprises were also very important for my appreciation of this movie.

Life is full of decisions we regret. So while the inciting incident in this case seems a bit stretched (considering who was involved and what the person did after it, held up against the job said character has and what that person is generally doing), it is only human. As is error of course and therefor this should be something you should be able to understand.

The movie does not take the usual path in some cases (relationship between Vogels character and his wife and others who are interacting with those two) and you may feel a little but cheated in some situations. Overall the drama is not amplified or enhanced whatever the cost may be. You'll either find that a good strategy or weak. The location is a very big part of it all and it plays into the living and everything else in the movie. A drama that is more subtle that you might think, with great performances

Mercy (Gnade in German, Nåde in Norwegian) is a German/Norwegian co-production about a German family of three living and working in one of the Northern-most cities in the world, Hammerfest. Dad is working in a large gas facility, mom as a nurse. We start following them during the harsh winter time, and they have serious trouble with their Marriage. He is struggling with the dark days during mid winter, and is having an affair, and she works more overtime than she wants to, when suddenly an accident occurs.

Sometimes a film's scenery and location is the main component of a film, and so it is in this. The beautiful, but dark and cold scenery plays a role in making afterthought, and makes the film as a whole go up in a greater unity. The film is like a woven quilt dealing with remorse, anger, love and relations but above all reactions to difficult situations, forgiveness and reconciliation - and of course mercy.

The film is strong, filmed in beautiful scenery, during the polar nights, when day lights are missing. The light is really something special, and it's used for all what it's worth. Which is quite a big deal. I think the film will be loved by many due to this. Class acting all the way.

The film is very atmospheric, suitably slow paced, long, and has a nerve which lies beneath, making this an exciting film, which gives an experience on several levels. The relations, the secret, dignity, the harsh but beautiful nature, and it's also very artistic and a pleasant watch. The film ends in a very special way, adding to the film's strength.

I enjoyed the film very much. I tend to like films where the the winter is playing a big part of the story, like in this. If you liked this, you'll also like "Vinterkyss" ("Kissed by winter"), which is thematically very like this one, and equally good. Other great winter films I will recommend is Transsiberian, Nord, Nordwand, The Big White and Fargo.

European (or at least German) cinema isn't exactly known for its genre blockbusters. Most of it are silly comedies or dead-serious dramas, often historical. These usually come across (to me) as pretentious and unauthentic, screaming to be taken seriously while mostly failing at visual storytelling.

This movie seemed to fit right into that category. Surprisingly, it doesn't. While there were some moments in the movie where I thought it was a bit constructed, it felt very honest overall. It takes itself serious, but also its audience and medium. It is real cinema, gripping and atmospheric, but also not over-styled. Desipite it's substance matter it's not a talking-heads movie, but knows when to let the visuals and music talk for themselves.

If you have seen the trailer, you probably already know a bit too much. On the other hand, the movie really isn't about any plot-twists or spectacular effects, and it thankfully avoids those and other clichés completely. It should be noted that it is rather slow-paced, and some plot-points are left open, but that's very likely all deliberate and very fitting. The only real complaint I have is the jarring Apple product placement. That was so out of place I wanted to throw up.

One more thing: Note that the title is "Mercy". Some critics talk about forgiveness in relation to the story, but without spoiling anything, that is precisely NOT what it is about.