A extremely rare example of an Indonesian film securing a main competition slot in Berlin, Nana: Before, Now & Then is a noteworthy landmark, in broader historical terms at least. The fourth feature from young writer-director Kamila Andini, a former Toronto prize-winner and three-time Berlinale guest, this beautifully crafted period piece is visually opulent but dramatically inert. The action mostly takes place in the late 1960s, but it could plausibly be set a century earlier, given its starchy emotional restraint, timid rebuke to patriarchal power, and general coyness about political or sexual themes. Respect to Andini for prodding at subjects that still remain touchy in Indonesian cultural discourse, notably the crimes of the murderous Suharto regime, but her film’s snoozy pacing and wafer-thin feminist message will have limited appeal for most international audiences. This exotic art-house bloom will likely stay within the festival ecosphere following its Berlin debut.
In the lush hinterlands surrounding Bandung in western Indonesian, a city famous for its Dutch colonial architecture, Nana (Happy Salma) is haunted by the loss of her first husband and child during Indonesia’s long, bloody years of Cold War conflict and anti-Communist purges. Now she lives with her new family and much older second husband, Darga (Arswendy Bening Swara), in a luxurious plantation house attended by servants. Far away in Jakarta, the CIA-backed authoritarian general Suharto is finalising his “New Order” regime, with brutal massacres of left-wing opponents and political rivals. But these events barely register on the film’s core plot, except as background news snippets and hushed gossip.
Nana’s life appears placid and privileged on the surface, but she is a bird in a gilded cage, trained by socially conservative tradition to look pretty, smile demurely and never ask questions. “A woman has to be good at keeping secrets,” she cautions her cheeky, cherubic daughter Dais (Chempa Puteri). But she ignores her own advice after discovering Darga’s latest brazen infidelity with the younger Ino (Laura Basuki), who works as a butcher in the local market. Instead of maintaining diplomatic silence, Nana pointedly tracks down her love rival and forges an unlikely friendship with her.
Meeting Ino might have crushed Nana’s spirit but instead, bonding over shared cigarettes and gentle feminist bitching about gender inequality, the free-spirited mistress encourages the stifled wife to liberate herself. When a freakish stroke of fate offers her a possible escape route from her genteel prison of a marriage and toxic coterie of false friends, she is forced to weigh up whether to tear her family apart to salvage her own long-dormant happiness.
Featuring graceful performances and sumptuous production design, Nana offers more aesthetic pleasures than dramatic thrills. Andini and her cinematographer Batara Goempar shoot with poise and poetry, with generous use of subtle slow motion and mirrors as framing devices. Feverish dream sequences punctuate the action, adding a chaste hint of erotic fantasy and some tastefully handled violence. A lustrous colour palette of golden browns, iridescent greens and marine blues invoke the look of vintage colourised postcards while a lovingly curated soundtrack blends chamber orchestra pieces, charmingly quaint lounge-pop numbers and traditional folk music, with sporadic live performances smoothly incorporated into the narrative like chapter divides. There are promising echoes of master image-makers like Wong Kar-Wei in these richly layered tableaux, even if the central plot feels like a drowsy, underpowered soap opera.
Director: Kamila Andini
Screenwriters: Kamila Andini, Ahda Imran
Cast: Happy Salma, Laura Basuki, Arswendy Bening Swara, Ibnu Jamil, Rieke Diah Pitaloka, Chempa Puteri, Arawinda Kirana
Production companies: Fourcolours Films, Titimangsa Foundation
Producers: Ifa Isfansyah, Gita Fara
Cinematography: Batara Goempar
Editor: Akhmad Fesdi Anggoro
Production designer: Vida Sylvia
Costume designer: Retno Ratih Damayanti
Music: Ricky Lionnardi
Production company: Fourcolours Films (Indonesia)
World sales: Wild Bunch International
Venue: Berlin International Film Festival (Competition)
In Sundanese
103 minutes
