By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.3 cats
Director: Felix Van Groeningen
Starring: Geert Van Rampelberg | Johan Heldengergh | Nell Cattrysse | Nils de Caster | Veerle Baetens
Country: belgium, netherlands
Year: 2013
Running time: 111
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2024519/combined
Bruce says: “THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN is a melodrama that could have been a disaster in lesser hands than that of director Felix Van Groeningen who interjects whimsy into a tale of romance and heartbreak. Adapted from a play, the two main characters are Didier (Johan Heldengergh) and Elise (Veerle Baetens). She runs a tattoo parlor in the local village and he lives on a farm and plays in a bluegrass band. One does not expect a lead in a Belgian film to drive a pick-up truck, wear western gear and sing in a band that specializes in Alabama covers. Bluegrass? What do we know about Belgium?
“Animal attraction best describes their relationship, at least during the first stages. There is nothing like sex in a pick-up to get things going. As their relationship grows, their lives merge. Elise begins singing with the band. And they are good. Whether foot stomping or singing mournful ballads they are kindred souls to the genuine bluegrass performers. As time passes their lives become more conventional, not without drama however. When Elise announces she is pregnant, Didier replies, ‘Maybe I don’t want that.’ Protestors often become ardent once won over. Predictably, Didier becomes a doting father when their daughter Maybelle is born. She is a charmer.
“The initial tragedy central to the film is revealed from the onset as Elise and Didier are told Maybelle has terminal leukemia. What happened before is told in overlapping flashbacks. The aftermath of this tragedy leads to another heartbreak that is reserved for later. The boys in the band – and their girlfriends – comprise a wonderful support group. It appears that all the tools are there to weather the storm. Even with clips of George Bush on television behaving shamelessly, America is still viewed as a land of hope. Didier wants to go there to start all over again. He is obsessed with Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass. Having a passion is helpful in getting through a crisis. Elise is less equipped than Didier in that regard. She turns inward, rejecting Didier and their friends.
“Veerle Baetens is marvelous in a role that won her the Best Actress Award at the Tribeca Film Festival; Johan Heldengergh is perfectly cast and equally convincing. The film also won Best Screenplay at Tribeca, an award that I feel is a bit misplaced since it is the direction and editing that contribute most to the film’s success. THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN is an ingenious mix of joy and sorrow. 4.5 cats
“(THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN screened at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival.)”
Jason says: “Just about everybody who buys a ticket for THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN will know going in that it’s designed to break his or her heart, but how and how much is easily underestimated. Director Felix Van Groeningen and company construct their tale of love, bluegrass music, and disaster so well that it’s sometimes hard to tell whether the moments of joy make the tragedies worse or bearable.
“The film opens with a song and then moves to 2007, where Elise Vandevelde (Veerle Baetens) and Didier Bontnick (Johan Heldenbergh) are in the hospital with their six-year-old daughter Maybelle (Nell Cattrysse), only to be told that the tests are positive, and she has cancer. Just as that’s really sinking in, it’s 2001, when Didier & Elise spent their first night together in a camper on his run-down farm just outside Ghent. Though Didier has no interest in getting tattoos from Elise’s shop, she’s soon a member of his bluegrass group, and it seems like nothing could be more powerful than their love.
“Star Johan Heldenbergh co-wrote the play that this picture was based upon, although that must be a very different thing from the film. Van Groeningen and his collaborators do a number of screen-specific things very well, with the most important and noteworthy being how things are cut together. THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN may be the best-edited film you’ll see for some time, with Van Groeningen and editor Nico Leunen doing something impressive at just about every level: There’s not a scene that feels flabby or like it’s missing anything. Montages (often keyed to a lyric-heavy song that doesn’t leave a lot of room for error) deliver information concisely without slowing down or doling out exposition. The time period shifts back and forth without the need for on-screen titles, always showing the events that are most appropriate right at that moment, even if it’s not always the obvious choice. Questions and events can be left dangling in the air without the feeling of cheap, artificial suspense.
“The music is occasionally used to tie some of those sequences together, and it is by and large quite good. Although Didier mentions that he used to be a punk rocker, the music in this film is bluegrass, and I suspect that a large chunk of the cast is there for how well they can play or sing; their sound is good enough that it’s not hard to believe in how their performances quietly move to larger nicer venues over the course of the story. Such a quintessentially American form of music may sound like an odd choice for a movie taking place Belgium, or maybe just a way to get enough English in the trailer to help international sales, but there’s actually a very important story purpose to that. Even more, importantly, though, it’s a style whose lack of adornment gives the singers no place to hide their feelings – with the additional implication that any change in how a song sounds or how well the singers harmonize is about them, rather than any changes in style.
“Unless they’re dubbed, Heldenbergh and Veerle Baetens can sing. More importantly, they can act, especially against each other. Just like the music doesn’t provide them anywhere to hide, the screenplay doesn’t either – there aren’t any best-friend characters for them to talk things out with. They’re not needed, as Baetens and Heldenbergh are great together, from their giddy love at first sight through believable maturation to intertwined but very different collapses. They’re excellent, and the only real help they get –
Nell Cattrysse as Maybelle – isn’t really a scene-stealer. Certainly, Maybelle is a great little kid, but in some way the best thing Cattrysse does is to not oversell her as a catalyst.
“The screenplay tying all of this together is not perfect, although that one bit of telling instead off showing stands out compared to how expertly everything else we learn about Didier & Elise has been simply laid out indicates how great the rest is. A device that seems to fit a play better than a film (the rest of the band becoming a chorus and singing during solemn moments) is odd but mostly works. Mostly, Van Groeningen’s script (with Carl Joos) and direction is a model of economy that doesn’t sacrifice detail and impressive emotional balance: As much as the film will juxtapose younger Elise & Didier with the older versions to show how their experiences have changed them, the coiled timeline does a perfect job of showing how good and bad memories live side by side. The emergence of one of the more fair-minded conflicts between belief and atheism is also kind of remarkable – I don’t think I’ve ever seen a film crush a non-believer’s faith quite like this one does.
“It connects so well as to be astonishing. With only slight changes, THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN could have been an unbearable melodrama that only existed to make the audience suffer; instead, it’s a weeper that earns its tears fair and square. 5 cats
“Seen 1 October 2013 at the Regent Theatre (Gathr Preview Series, digital)”
Diane says: “Thanks to those who got BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN on the Buried Treasures list. I might have missed it otherwise. I found it far and away the best of the bunch.
“Not only did I contribute to its box office take, but I brought a friend with me! Apologies to those who think it risks losing its
nom…..
“BCB is a very powerful film with themes of faith, grief, and the power of music. As has been noted by others, editing is a particular strength as the story bounces around ten or so years.
“I was initially put off by the bluegrass music having a studio quality rather than an in-scene sound, but the remove allows the songs to comment on the story more effectively. 5 cats”
Michael says: “With all the talk around THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN, I have to admit I was a little disappointed. I found the music powerful, and the characters interesting. But there was something off about the screenplay, or perhaps the direction. I don’t know. When Bruce called it a melodrama, it started to crystallize for me. I think melodramas are incredibly difficult to pull off, and this one didn’t quite come together perfectly for me. Like Toni, I had some troubles with the histrionics toward the end. Don’t get me wrong, well done , and worthy of attention, but I wanted to like it more. 3.5 cats”
Chris says: “You don’t see many films where bluegrass music plays a significant role in the narrative and the overall aesthetic, and I doubt you’ve seen any before that are set in Belgium. But this melodrama about a couple coming together and falling apart also throws a terminally ill child into the mix, along with issues of faith, fidelity, bereavement, alcoholism and the art of getting a tattoo. Even for something with a running time of just under two hours, it feels incredibly overstuffed, often coming apart at the seams with clumsy scenes of extensive ranting and overly arty moments that scan as a bit too show-off-y. Fortunately, the story compels, the camerawork’s often beautiful, the music’s terrific and the two leads are very good—they wholly express why these two characters would fall in and out of love, which you don’t always see evidence of in a love story. Although full of jagged edges, some of which could’ve benefited from some refinement, it’d be a far less distinctive film without them. 3.5 cats”