Another End is another offbeat choice for the main competition at Berlin: a stylish-looking, impeccably acted fantasy set in a future world that is just a little bit more outrageous than the present one, in which the Aeternum Corporation offers the inconsolably bereaved a high-tech solution for their grief that is, on the plus side, several steps up from zombiehood, but still creepy.
Hovering in that twilight zone between atmospheric festival film and audience intriguer, Another End takes a long time to set up and establish the rules of the game; it only really catches fire in the final scenes, which radically reset audience expectations. Directed by Piero Messina, whose first feature The Wait (2015) with Juliette Binoche was a psychological ghost story, this new sci fi drama develops its premise with conviction thanks to a high-quality production and an excellent cast featuring Gael Garcia Bernal and Bérénice Bejo as grieving siblings and Norwegian actress Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person in the World) in multiple roles. It has all the points to make it into theatrical release, but the twists and turns in the plot are going to leave audiences with a lot to discuss over dinner.
It is worth noting that this Indigo/Rai Cinema production has made every effort to avoid being pigeonholed as an Italian film, avoiding local actors, dialogue and locations. Using exteriors shot at La Défense in Paris and English dialogue in various accents (with some Spanish exchanges between Bernal and Bejo), it creates a culturally anonymous Euroworld that looks as massive, regimented, authoritarian and alienating as Lang’s Metropolis or Orwell’s 1984. But if some message of a social nature seems always on the brink of bursting through the characters’ personal dramas, it never does, and this shying away from a big statement about runaway technology may limit its festival appeal.
Disconcerting as the techno fantasy may be, it gets firmly grounded in the performances. Bernal’s Sal is a hollow-eyed man who has lost Zoe, the woman he loved, in a car crash. And he was driving. His sister Ebe (Bejo), who is deeply concerned over his suicidal behavior, urges his wife to resurrect her in the body of another woman, who will act as a one-day reservoir for her memories. Since Ebe is a top exec at Aeternum, she can bend the rules a bit and get him extra time with the new Zoe – despite the risks.
In a brief but effective “backstage” scene that raises goose bumps, the dead are seen hanging on a huge concrete wall in clothing bags, waiting to be stripped of their memories. At their relatives’ request, their consciousness can then be uploaded to compatible hosts for a day. The hosts don’t realize they are not the person whose memories are in their head. When they fall asleep and awaken the next day as themselves, they will have forgotten everything – except in certain cases.
Despite his misgivings, Sal agrees to “say goodbye” by spending a day with Zoe’s mind in the body of a tall girl (Reinsve) who doesn’t look much like her, yet even so the old chemistry between them soon starts working again. One day is not enough for Sal, and he gets more. But when Ebe finally pulls the plug, he starts searching for Zoe’s host, like an addict for a fix. Spotting her in a disco, then following her to her place of work, he breaks all the rules and the film enters its most fascinating phase, where it’s very hard to second-guess the four screenwriters. The super-clever ending should satisfy genre fans, though one can protest that it’s only possible because so much crucial plot information has been withheld from the viewer.
In some especially poignant scenes involving Sal’s helpless attraction to Zoe’s host, who he overlays with the dead woman herself, the film seems to reach for the poetry of a Solaris without quite getting there. The permeability of the characters’ identities is near-universal in this unpleasantly impersonal world. Bejo’s Ebe is ambiguously close to her brother, allowing herself to become personally embroiled in his post-mortem reunions. And she is not the only one: a doctor-colleague played by English TV actor Pal Aron is hinted to have gone out of bounds to bring his mother back to life. Reinsve swings back and forth as the bookish Zoe and alluring Ava, making the two seem like different women indeed. Very affecting in a supporting role is Olivia Williams as Sal’s bereaved neighbor.
The look of modern, quasi-military uniformity is heightened by Fabrizio La Palombara’s cinematography, so drained of color that certain scenes like the gyrating disco are paradoxically almost black-and-white. Production design by Eugenia F. Di Napoli also plays a major role in creating the asphyxiating atmosphere of mammoth silver and charcoal buildings, where people try to stave off alienation by stuffing their apartments with mysterious personal objects and tiny pets.
Director: Piero Messina
Screenwriters: Piero Messina, Giacomo Bendotti, Valentina Gaddi, Sebastiano Melloni
Producers: Nicola Giuliano, Francesca Cima, Carlotta Calori, Viola Prestieri, Paolo Del Brocco
Cast: Gael Garcia Bernal, Bérénice Bejo, Renate Reinsve, Olivia Williams, Pal Aron
Cinematography: Fabrizio La Palombara
Production design: Eugenia F. Di Napoli
Costume design: Mariano Tufano
Editing: Paola Freddi
Music: Bruno Falanga
Sound design: Mirko Perri
Sound: Fabio Felici
Production companies: Indigo Film, Rai Cinema
World sales: Newen Connect, TF1 Studio
In English, Spanish
129 minutes
