Angela Schanelec's Afternoon is one of the most pensive character studies I've seen in a long time, peering into the human soul as it deconstructs the human condition certered around hopes, dreams, and emotion. The film is centered around Irene, a self-absorbed actress who returns home. Everything at home feels stagnant, with her son Konstantin completely intent on living in the area for a long time as eh sets his sights on being a successful writer. As Irene attempts to settle back into the normalcy of her life she begins to realize how truly different things have become. Afternoon is a film that spends no time on exposition, throwing the viewer directly into the story with no explanation about its characters. This is a film that firmly believes in less is more, slowly revealing its characters without giving the viewer anything easily. Borderline uncomfortable, the viewer finds themselves in intimate situations between these characters and it's quite frankly remarkable how poignant of a study this film becomes. As the film progresses I found myself truly understanding Irene & Konstantin, among others, having an acute sense of who they are, where they came from, and what possibly made them this way. While the first hour of the film is very exploratory for the viewer, for reasons mentioned above, the second half is an incredible portrait of damaged, stagnant souls, who have drifted into the hopelessness. Konstantin is a complacent character who without knowing it is weighed down by the vast unknown of life, while Irene is a character who long ago lost her ability to feel empathy for others. Angela Schanelec's Afternoon is a meticulously photographed study of hopeless individuals, being the latest example that reconfirms that Angela Schanelec is one of the finest contemporary filmmakers working today.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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