Franklinmovie

Malcolm & Marie, USA, 2020. Written and directed by S. Levinson, with John David Washington and Zendaya. Original Music by Labirinth. Length: 106′. Rated: R.

Madly in love

PLOT

A house, in the middle of nowhere – as far as we can see – and two people, their lives, their passions, their doubts, fears, certainties. Malcom and Marie have been together for a while, but we don’t know how long; they both had a life before their relationship, maybe they’ll have a life after that; none of this makes any difference in the narration of their here and now, their current states of mind. 

REVIEW

That this movie is a natural product of the 2020, lockdown, is kinda obvious when you realize that Malcom and Marie will be the only two characters you’ll ever see in the movie. Two personalities, though, that – fortunately – we still see in a “normal” situation, where social life is still there and they are just caught by the camera in the intimacy of their relationship. 

The narration does walk the viewer down their lives, even though nothing is shown that truly reveals what the two characters have lived before. In doing so, the movie builds up the empathy with both the man and the woman through sprints and slowdowns in what seems to be an endless fight, made of rounds and rests. 

The screenplay is written with an incredible eye to realism, more than once the actors seem to dive in their roles so much that improvisation takes over; long sequence shots intensify this sensation and the use of black and white does keep the eye on the arguments, the points of view of the characters, where the setting doesn’t have any real meaning. Levinson, smartly, uses the house with its spaces to slowly bring the viewer deeper and deeper inside the quarrel. We start seeing everything from the windows, then Marie opens a backdoor – literally and metaphorically – and we can follow the couple from the inside, catching up and losing, in sight and in attention, both the speaker and the listener.
In the end, there is no judgment, just a depiction of the current state of the relationship. 

In a movie that only works on the emotions of the two characters, the good – or bad – result can almost solely depend on the actors. Two raising stars, even if with some age difference, Zendaya and John David Washington always feel in deep connection with their characters. As said before, at times it also feels like they’re improvising on a draft, where the ideas and the positions of their characters are like bullet points that they can make their own and express as they feel would be more incisive in the fight. So it’s nothing but obvious that their skills in creating a direct empathy with their characters is, at the end of the day, what truly drives the viewers and makes them empathize with them as well.

A few words on the music, which is used with caution, sparsely, just to create those sprints and pauses on which the movie is built. The rhythm is indeed one of the main features of the whole movie, also thanks to the 3 or 4 music moments, which not so much underscore the dialogue, but rather alternate with it.

It’s not a movie for the faint-hearted, I may say. It is impossible to follow the growing emphasis of the fight, mainly because the story itself brings slowly out the details that can change the balance in favor of Malcolm or Marie. That is why, in the end, the final decision, and the imagination on the relationship’s possible outcome, is completely up to you.