Jessica ChastainandPeter Sarsgaardare locked in an emotionally fueled embrace in a new poster forMemory, one of the hottest films to hit this year’s festival circuit. The image, viaIndieWire, shows the pair as connected as two people could be, with a distraught Chastain naked and in a bathtub while a clothed Sarsgaard cradles her head in his hands. Despite being nothing more than an image, the shot carries plenty of intensity and passion as a look that could be pain or happiness plays across both actors' faces. Strewn across the top of the poster are all the positive reactions the title received at events including the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and the BFI London Film Festival.
What Is ‘Memory’ About?
While there hasn’t been much revealed surroundingMichel Franco’s (After Lucia) latest production, we have a baseline understanding of what to expect. A social worker and dedicated mother, Sylvia (Chastain) is a woman driven through the acts of helping others but has a low social battery outside of work. One evening, she attends her high school reunion andcrosses paths with a man named Saul(Sarsgaard) whom she has never met before. From here, the storyline will carry audiences across an ocean of memories from the past as the pair comes to discover that maybe they have been linked after all.
Along withAcademy Award-winner Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye)and Sarsgaard (Garden State),Memoryalso features performances fromMerritt Wever(Midday Black Midnight Blue) as Sylvia’s sister Olivia and newcomerBrook Timberas Sylvia’s daughter, Anna.
What Are Critics Saying About ‘Memory’?
One of those members of the media in attendance at the film’s TIFF screening was Collider’sChase Hutchinsonwho gave the feature a B+. While our readers should be warned that there are spoilers throughout,Hutchinson’s review gives a terrific background to the film’s plotand picks apart the various themes crafted by Franco. While Hutchinson had plenty of terrific things to say about the movie’s pacing and story, it was the performances and chemistry between Chastain and Sarsgaard that gained most of his praise.
“Everything they do feels completely and utterly transcendent, pulling us right up into the many agonies at the core of the film even as Franco keeps us at a bit of distance. Nothing is wasted with a couple of key scenes the two get apart towards the end where you feel every single emotion that has been finally allowed to burst free. It is the type of film that can come awfully close to breaking apart, but that only makes it all the more magnificent to see it hold together.”
Memoryis set to be released in the U.S. on December 22. Although no trailer has yet made its way to viewers, we can expect to see one soon. Check out the poster below andlearn more about the film here in Collider’s guide.
