Emotional Arithmetic

The sort of film one dreads encountering at a film festival, Emotional Arithmetic follows several characters, including a trio of Holocaust survivors (Susan Sarandon’s Melanie, Gabriel Byrne’s Christopher, and Max von Sydow’s Jakob), as they reunite and hash out the past over one particularly tumultuous summer evening. Director Paolo Barzman has infused Emotional Arithmetic with a very serious, very stately atmosphere that proves to be meaningless, as Jefferson Lewis’ screenplay emphasizes artificiality at almost every turn; this lack of authenticity is likewise reflected in the stagy dialogue and almost uniformly broad performances (though Byrne manages to emerge from this turkey unscathed, Sarandon’s quirky, relentlessly spastic work is nothing short of embarrassing). The desperation that’s been hard-wired into almost every aspect of the movie is palpable, and there’s ultimately never a point at which Emotional Arithmetic feels as though it’s not pandering to the awards-season crowd.

*1/2 out of ****