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Anyone who is familiar with the work of Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi is well aware of his proclivity for inserting the inciting incident deep into a suspense story, long after we have become accustomed to the characters’ routines. Farhadi understands the importance of immersing us in the rhythms of normalcy before they are disrupted, which is something that too many filmmakers feel compelled to do from the beginning of their films. How much less effective would the shower scene in “Psycho” have been if it had taken place at the beginning of the movie rather than at the 40-minute mark? “Everybody Knows,” Farhadi’s eighth feature film, is also his first to be shot in Spanish, and it may be his most beautifully photographed work to date. As a family in Madrid reunites for a wedding, Pedro Almodóvar’s longtime cinematographer, José Luis Alcaine, fills the opening act with sumptuous, sun-kissed imagery shot by Almodóvar himself. In particular, the perpetually cheerful expression on the face of Irene (Carla Campra), a teenager whose enthusiasm for life can be seen in every frame. Campra possesses a beauty and magnetism reminiscent of Hailee Steinfeld, and she manages to hold our attention for just long enough for us to become concerned about her well-being. Irene is the one who instills the most profound sense of unease in us, whether she’s speeding around on a motorcycle with reckless abandon or swinging from the rope of a bell tower, interrupting her aunt’s wedding reception. Despite the fact that we are perched on the edge of our seats, waiting for something catastrophic to occur, when it does, it is completely unexpected.
This film is far more powerful than its lukewarm reception at Cannes would have suggested, and it is yet another demonstration of Farhadi’s mastery of extracting immense power from silence and stillness. One of his previous films, “The Salesman,” had a pivotal scene in which the camera lingered on an open door until the audience began to squirm in fear. I’ll never forget that moment. I was struck more than ever by the director’s deft approach to sound design in “Everybody Knows,” in which he subtly compares the thwack of a wiper blade with the throbbing pulse of his characters as they engage in a race against time. When the word “time” appears for the first time after a title sequence set amidst the grinding gears of the aforementioned tower, where every second ticks down toward an inevitable clang of bells, it jumps out at us like the heightened utterance of “knife” in Hitchcock’s “Blackmail.” It’s no doubt that Farhadi would agree that the same can be said about cinema, as Paco (Javier Bardem), the owner of a successful local vineyard, observes that wine is given character and personality by time. Time also happens to be what Paco and his old friend Laura (Penélope Cruz) end up trying to buy for themselves in a desperate attempt to avert an unavoidable tragedy in the course of the film. It appears as if Laura’s family is peering into a distant past, where unbridled joy was still within reach, when they sullenly watch footage of her sister’s wedding ceremony just hours after it was recorded.
During Paco’s nephew, Felipe (Sergio Castellanos), and Irene’s daughter’s ascent of the tower, they ascend a circular staircase that looks eerily similar to the one in Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film “Vertigo,” and it, like that iconic location, has secrets etched into its walls. A nagging sense of history repeating itself pervades the film as Irene and Felipe become attracted to one another in a way that would appear inexplicable if it weren’t for the fact that they are both suffering from raging hormones. We can feel the tension simmering between them every time they’re in each other’s orbit in this, their ninth onscreen collaboration with offscreen couple Cruz and Bardem, who are cleverly cast as former lovers whose past has been repressed for a variety of reasons. As the plot thickens and the intimacy that once existed between Paco and Laura threatens to upend everything they have worked so hard to achieve, the film’s title, which is perhaps stated aloud one too many times, takes on a newfound urgency. What, if anything, did the wedding guests know about the couple’s history, and can any of them be relied upon, even those who are related by blood? Can any of them be trusted at all? Similar to how “The Salesman” blurred the line between theatre and reality, we are constantly asked whether characters are putting on a show or are simply being themselves. Certain nonverbal expressions, when recalled poignantly in retrospect, turn out to be extremely expressive.
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However, rather than burst forth in cathartic outbursts, our protagonists are consumed to the point of near paralysis in this film, which is filled with towering emotion. “Eyes Wide Shut,” directed by Stanley Kubrick, evoked memories of Nicole Kidman’s claim that she cried for hours while preparing for a close-up in the movie. So Cruz appears throughout much of Farhadi’s film, as ravaged and protective as the grieving sister she played in Farhadi’s previous film, “The Assassination of Gianni Versace.” Bardem has rarely been more vulnerable on screen, and his portrayal of a mountainous man in the throes of a raging storm is quietly heartbreaking in its simplicity. Observing him take in sudden and distressingly sad information is akin to watching glaciers melt and dissolve into the ocean as they pass over land. The most life-altering revelations are either whispered or manifest themselves in the form of an untraceable text message, though Paco’s wife, Bea (a fiery Bárbara Lennie), provides a welcome counterpoint to the suffocating angst in the film’s first half. Despite the fact that her grounded perspective is not informed, Farhadi portrays it without judgment, illuminating how persuasive her words are when viewed from a certain perspective. The filmmaker’s adoration for Arthur Miller continues to inform his intricately layered characters, who are neither lionized nor demonized in the film’s narrative. On the surface, there are almost too many ensemble players to keep track of, but no one exudes the sort of cardboard villainy that can be dismissed with ease on first viewing.
Everybody Knows Quiz
There are a few of Farhadi’s visual ideas that don’t quite work out, such as the overhead footage of the partygoers that hints at what a remake of Michael Haneke’s “Caché” might look like in the modern age of drones. Many of the potential story twists that are raised throughout the film are far more tantalizing than what is revealed in the final act, which is both predictable and not as tightly tied to the central narrative as it could have been. However, as with all of Farhadi’s work, “Everybody Knows” is less about the mystery itself than it is about what it unearths in the innermost souls of each of the characters, opening the floodgates to a reservoir of pent-up resentment and rage. In the beginning of the film, Laura’s husband, Alejandro (Ricardo Darn of “The Secret in Their Eyes”), remains offscreen for such a long period of time that he is assumed to be the prime suspect—until he actually appears halfway through the film. Darin makes us understand Alejandro’s need for closure, despite the fact that the way he has gone about rationalizing his choices in life is flat-out exasperating in its willful naiveté. His happiness is built on a foundation of secrets that cannot be kept for an indefinite period of time. All of this culminates in a climactic sequence that Farhadi has meticulously staged, in which key moments take place out of view thanks to meticulously timed misdirection on the orders of a magician. It is the way our minds work that allows even the most terrifying events to be imprinted more vividly in our memories.. “Everything that you see within the frame helps you to envision what exists outside of the frame,” the director said during our conversation at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Also, you will find out which character are you in this Everybody Knows quiz.
“Everybody Knows” may not be an instant classic in the same way that “A Separation” was, but only a small number of films are. It is superbly acted, richly provocative, and never less than enthralling throughout the entire film. Even though Farhadi is criticized in Iran, just as Pawe Pawlikowski is criticized in Poland, for refusing to portray his home country in a wholly positive light, the themes of both filmmakers’ work can be applied to any culture because their primary concern is the human condition. The fact that when Farhadi tours the world with his films, he discovers that audiences have similar reactions regardless of where they happen to be located is no fluke. Few filmmakers have ever been as adept at demonstrating the extent to which we are more alike than we might have imagined possible as David Lynch.
For more personality quizzes check this: Simmba Quiz.
