--Ben, Before I Go to Sleep
Before I Go to Sleep, like Memento before it, which is does somewhat fall short of, explores the epistemology of memory and just how at the mercy of involuntary recollections or lack thereof we truly are. Something that so many seem to utterly take for granted and only make assumptions about is what makes so much of life hinges upon. Nicole Kidman makes for a great protagonist in a film that uses the uncertainties of memories and their absence as a catalyst for a story about self-awarenesss, relationships, and loss. The horror of having to tell a significant other about the tragedies of their life only for them to forget by the next day, the existential despair of knowing you have memory problems while being largely powerless to change the situation, and the desperation of your life wasting away are all emphasized in a drama that is elevated further in no small part by its main cast. It does not reach the heights of Memento, but it is still a competently made and brilliantly acted movie.
Production Values
Very emotional performances are indeed a core part of this movie, appropriately matching the genuine weight of the subject matter of personal identity, memory, and marriage. Nicole Kidman fluctuates between confusion, despair, determination, and relief as the main character who has to deal with not only amnesia, but the barrage of increasingly difficult information. For a character who mostly forgets daily events and discoveries each night, her Christine needed to rely on the emotionality of waking up every morning as if years of her life have not already passed. The rest of the trio of primary characters are played by Mark Strong, who gets the change to play someone other than a villain, and Colin Firth, who frequently uses his facial expressions to make his words seem all the more personally charged. As Before I Go to Sleep is by no means an action movie, quiet moments where mystery, glances, or tears take the spotlight require excellent acting, and that is one area where the film does not falter.
Story
Some spoilers are below.
A woman named Christine wakes up next to a man in a bed. In the nearby bathroom, she finds pictures and notes identifying the man in the bed as her husband Ben. He says that an accident damaged her head over a decade ago and left her with daily memory loss that resets back to her memories from around 20 years old each time she falls asleep. A call from a Dr. Nasch informs her that someone is actively trying to help her restore her memory, and he has previously shown Christine evidence that she was actually attacked by vicious blows to the head rather than having suffered a mere accident. Suddenly, memories break through, and at random, they might even carry over to the following day. An ocean of serpentine emotions and claims from other people leave Christine confused about her past and the man saying he is her husband.
Intellectual Content
Before I Go to Sleep shows how an amplified version of an epistemological limitation that already exists--we all have a partly involuntary capacity for storing memories with or without amnesia, after all--could so very easily disrupt much of life and leave someone at the mercy of other people, whether they are malicious or benevolent. Having a memory of an event simply does not mean that the recalled thing actually occured, as it does not follow from the mere presence of a memory that the memory must be accurate, just as it does not follow from not remembering an event that it never happened. Though how one recalls the past might be slightly incorrect, wildly incorrect, or perfectly accurate, there is no way to know without being completely free of certain limitations altogether, with the contents of the memory itself being what one can know, as well as the logical possibility of any event that does not contradict necessary truths. Only the basic self-evident veracity of the laws of logic and the direct contents of one's consciousness, which includes immediate sensory perceptions as well as introspective states, are knowable without memory. Logical truths are necessary truths that could not have been any other way, so even if a person forgot literally everything except what they were immediately focusing on, they would be relying on logical axioms and broader logical truths metaphysically and epistemologically in everything. Moreover, one could always at least know that one is having experiences in each moment even if one cannot know if sensory experiences or memories of the past correspond to real stimuli and events. Christine does not ever seem to realize these truths, but she would have to remember her memory issues to even retain awareness of them, and she nonetheless relies on the laws of logic and on introspection no matter how much she understands their core nature.
Conclusion
One of the more famous amnesiacs in cinema is Dory from Finding Nemo/Finding Dory, the fish who has short-term memory loss. The vulnerability, terror, and confusion of memory loss are still not quite on display in Dory in the more devastating ways they are in Before I Go to Sleep, which, though some people might dislike the slower, more emotion and dialogue-driven nature of the plot, does directly delve into these ramifications of amnesia. Memory as a function of consciousness that is necessary to focus and think beyond the present moment is certainly something most people do not seem to truly appreciate, but that might make films like this all the more impactful for broad audiences. Again, Memento soars higher with its more unflinching look into the epistemology of memory with a protagonist who cannot keep new memories even for a full day, unike Nicole Kidman's character, but Before I Go to Sleep is far from awful.
Content:
1. Violence: Only very light, occasional blows are shown.
2. Profanity: "Fuck," variations of "shit," and "bastard" are used.
3. Nudity: Within the very first scene, Nicole Kidman's character is seen naked from behind.
No comments:
Post a Comment