Everybody Knows review: Cannes 2018 gets off to a positive star with this twisty psychological drama from The Salesman filmmaker Asghar Farhadi.
Everybody Knows review by Paul Heath, May 2018.
Everybody Knows review
Asghar Farhadi officially opens the 2018 Cannes Film Festival with this supremely acted kidnapping drama cum murder-mystery which, despite its butt-numbing and plodding nature, somehow manages to hit all the right notes.
We open to a family wedding, deep in the heart of a rural Spain where Laura (Penelope Cruz) has returned from Argentina with her family – her teenage daughter, Irene (Carla Campra), and her young son, Diego (Ivan Chavero). She is attending the wedding of her sister Ana (Inma Cuesta), to Joan (Roger Casamajor), but it is apparent from the outset that there is some deep-rooted history that lies here. For example, there’s Javier Bardem’s local farmer Paco, who we know Laura once had a relationship with. We also know that this was in the distant past, and while the two have rarely seen one another – Laura having married Argentinian Alejandro (Darin), they have remained friends. The wedding is a big, lavish affair, clearly an event for the village who all come together to celebrate the nuptials, but immediately afterwards Laura’s daughter Irene vanishes from her room late at night causing an absolute frenzy in the village. A distraught Laura calls upon Paco to help her to find Irene, the option of going to the local police not an option after a text message is received warning hem away from law enforcement, while at the same time demanding a 300,000 Euro ransom for Irene’s safe return.
Related: The Salesman review
The plot description makes the film seem like one that could be delivered at a taut, though throwaway Liam Neeson thriller, but Taken this obviously isn’t. The film is in the hands of celebrated Oscar-winning filmmaker Farhadi, and this film, whilst being his most accessible in terms of narrative, Everybody Knows has all the hallmarks of the director’s previous efforts. Hollywood star couple Bardem and Cruz are the stand-outs, while Ricado Darin also provides striking support as the tormented father-figure in Alejandro, as does Bárbara Lennie as Victoria, Paco’s wife.
There are surprises lurking around every corner, and those familiar with the previous films of Farhadi will attest that while this latest work doesn’t pack as much of an emotional punch as some of his previous efforts. Though billed as a psychological thriller, Everybody Knows is more of an Agatha Christie-type whodunnit as it quickly – well, actually rather slowly – becomes clear that there may be more sinister layers into the identity of the culprits behind the kidnapping at the heart of the movie.
The film does very much have a repetitive nature, but with the sweeping vistas of lush rural Spain and the striking cinematography from José Luis Alcaine (who will team with Brian De Palma for the movie Domino next) to enrich the experience, Everybody Knows might just be one of the best Cannes openers for many years, and a solid addition to Farhadi’s growing back-catalogue of solid efforts, the filmmaker proving that he can turn his hand to anything – in any such language he pleases.
Everybody Knows review by Paul Heath, May 2018.
Everybody Knows was reviewed at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.
