The myth of Electra lies at the fringes of Hala Matar’s stylish new thriller.
The first feature film by a female director from Bahrain, it is play on the ancient Greek story – involving false identities, recrimination, and revenge – but by way of an immaculate Italian drama inflected with array of cinematic and literary influences while also feeling undeniably contemporary.
The narrative begins in Rome, with a meeting between music star Milo (Jack Farthing) and a journalist from a magazine, Dylan (Daryl Wein) who is going to do a profile on him. Both of their respective partners are also introduced – Lucy (Abigail Cowen) who is along with Dylan to take photographs for the article, and Francesca (Maria Bakalova), Milo’s performance artist girlfriend. Quickly, Milo invites the couple for a weekend in Maria’s opulent family home in the countryside, unaware that Dylan and Lucy are not who they claim to be. The setup has evident shades of The Talented Mr. Ripley, while the milieu of the faded manor evokes the mid-century cinema of Italian masters.
One might think, from that premise, that what follows is stifling but little could be further from the truth. While Electra revels in its slowly cranking claustrophobia, it rarely feels oppressive as much as compulsive. The foursome revolves around each other, playing various psychological and literal games, and the lines of sexual tension flit from one pairing to another with abandon. The modernity of the characters is ever present despite the retro-stylings of the lavish palazzo that they rattle around and Matar’s intention feels equal parts homage and reinvention, the décor feels old and grand while their dress senses and references are all impeccably on trend.
Trendiness is integral to all the characters in different ways, and the film both sends up and lays bare the realities of being hip wealthy art school kids struggling for emotional reassurance or searching for meaning. Milo evidently has a chip on his shoulder about his music being for kids and wills himself into believing Dylan’s increasingly faltering pitch because he needs it to be true. Dylan himself is presenting as a journalist from Dazed, someone who’s supposed to have his finger on the pulse, but his real motives hark back to the plays by Sophocles and Euripides. Francesca is a performance artist who is scared to truly perform. Lucy is an aspiring actress who has taken the gig of conning the others as a means to an end, some financial security to follow her dream. There are moments of pontification about art and philosophy the are rolled together with jittery dialogues in which people person fallacies will come to light.
There are various instances in which the filmmaking itself encroaches into the verisimilitude and these are perhaps some of the Electra‘s more interesting and inspired moments. One sees a badminton match between Milo and Dylan out in the courtyard where the action is slowed down and some archival audio of a match between an English and American competitor blares. The various interplaying tension of the scene, and how they are inhabited by the form, are all arguably what Luca Guadanigno couldn’t quite pull off in the climactic face-off of his recent tennis thriller, Challengers. Elsewhere Matar adds computer game inserts, crosses intertitles out on the screen, interrupts the action with a surreal mime performance at the dinner table, and accompanies scenes with tracks of Milo’s, their provenance listed in the bottom corner.
There are times when all of these struggles to mesh together, and there were certainly moments in the film where things began to feel somewhat listless. Typically, they are followed by a strange or entrancing sequence that pulls things back. The performances are all very good from the four leads, particularly Farthing and Bakalova. The film could easily have been a case of style being prioritised over substance, and it’s possible some will level that claim, but all four actors are perfectly cast to imbue characters that can feel slight at times with a level of pathos that keeps things grounded.
The film’s ending is likely to be one that will divide people. It is abrupt and feels like a sudden change of register but, in fact, is more the breaking of a spell, the return to something far more tawdry and real. Electra takes on a surreal escapade and when we’re brought back down to earth it is with a significant, and arguably perfectly calibrated, bump.
Director: Hala Matar
Screenplay: Hala Matar, Paul Sado, Daryl Wein
Cast: Maria Bakalova, Jack Farthing, Abigail Cowen, Daryl Wein
Producers: Hala Matar, Daryl Wein, Jordan Beckerman, Jordan Yale Levine, Tommaso Bertani, Luca Cottafavi
Cinematography: Michael Alden Lloyd
Editing: Matt Berardi, Spencer Rollins
Production design: Alessandro Cicoria
Costume design: Hind Matar
Music: Ali Helnwein
Production company: Ring Film (Italy), Daryl Wein Films, Vested Interest, Yale Productions (all USA)
World Sales: Great Escape
Venue: Oldenburg Film Festival
In English
85 minutes
