Unspoken

A serious contender for one of the slowest movies of all time, Unspoken follows married couple Grace (Emmanuelle Devos) and Lukas (Bruno Todeschini) through the minutia of their day-to-day lives – with their morose actions stemming from the absence of their young daughter. Filmmaker Fien Troch doesn’t spell out just what’s happened to Grace and Lukas’ kid until the very end, which does ensure that the film never quite becomes the trenchant look at grief Troch has clearly intended (ie the lingering questions regarding just what happened prevent one from genuinely connecting with the material). There’s little doubt, however, that Unspoken‘s painfully deliberate pace stands as its most overt failing, as Troch devotes long stretches of screentime to some of the most insignificant occurrences imaginable (eg characters just stare off into space for minutes on end). And while the strong performances prove effective in sporadically holding one’s interest, with Devos’ haunting work especially captivating, Unspoken‘s exceedingly uneventful modus operandi ultimately dulls the impact of its few overtly positive elements.

*1/2 out of ****