Director: Fares Fares| Scenario: Fares Fares, Peter Smirnakos | Cast: Alexey Manvelov (Artan), Alma Pöysti (Louise), Fares Fares (Lukas), ea | Playing time: 94 minutes | Year: 2023
In Swedish film A Day and a Half Artan takes his ex-wife Louise hostage in a desperate attempt to reclaim his role in his daughter’s life. Police officer Lukas, under duress from Artan’s ubiquitous gun, drives the duo across the country. During the film it gradually becomes clear what Artan’s motivations are and the situation continues to deteriorate. At first glance, this sounds like one of the countless thirteen-in-a-dozen thrillers that Netflix has to offer, but nothing could be further from the truth.
All characters are very complex, although at first they don’t seem to be. In the first act, in which the film most resembles an average thriller, the characters have not yet been developed. This is because the focus is on building the tension and the logistics of the hostage situation. For example, hostage-taker Artan is desperate and unreasonable and the hostage is a panicky distressed woman. Yet already in the first conversation between Artan and his wife, it is insinuated that Louise is less innocent than she seems.
As the film progresses, the characters gain more and more depth. This is mainly because it is gradually becoming clear what exactly happened prior to the hostage-taking. This information is told through dialogues that never feel forced. For example, conversations are often interrupted by practical matters, such as the fact that the car has run out of gas or the announcement that contact has been made with the ferry company. These interruptions keep the information dump, and therefore the film, interesting.
At the end of the second act, the party arrives at Louise’s parents, who have her infant daughter in their care. In the garage of Louis’s childhood home, the two climaxes that the entire film has been working towards take place: the final puzzle piece of Louise’s character (and with it the conflict between her and Artan) in the argument she has with her parents, as well as a physical conflict between Louise’s father and police officer Lukas.
When the three and the daughter finally drive away in the car after the escalation in the garage, it is as if a weight has been lifted from the film. The double climax does not immediately solve everything, but from that moment on the tension of the first half of the film has disappeared. As a result, the last twenty minutes are considerably less exciting. Without the tension of the hostage-taking, the scenes flow into each other less smoothly and that makes the ending slow and uninteresting, despite the fact that the scenes are strong in themselves.
Artan and Louise are increasingly portrayed throughout the film as two exes in a difficult situation. This is in stark contrast to the role of hostage-taker and hostage that the two also fulfill. The thought behind this is nice, as the two now fit into both a thriller and a drama and so the genre of the film is ambiguous. Because of this, the ending is not only slow, but it’s also confusing where it goes, as expectations are often colored by the genre of the film.
A Day and a Half can be seen at Netflix.
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2023-09-03 19:51:08
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