YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE
YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE
A traumatised and violence-prone war veteran gets an order to rescue the senator's daughter. Honoured with two awards at the Cannes Film Festival - for the best screenplay and Joaquin Phoenix's performance - the film dissects the life-tormented man.
The body of the long-haired and bearded Joe (honoured with an award for the leading male role at the Cannes Film Festival, Joaquin Phoenix) is covered in scars. So as his mind. Traumatised - both physically and mentally - by his childhood and military service, the man works as a wet work specialist.
'I hear you're brutal', one of his employers remarks. 'I can be', stoically replies Joe. No one questions his methods, especially as he is efficient and leaves no trace. To carry out the task, all he needs is a hammer.
He specialises in rescuing the children of the rich, who would prefer to turn to him than involve the authorities. Joe’s latest job involves saving Nina (Ekaterina Samsonov), the young daughter of Senator Votto (Alex Manette), who seems to have fallen into the hands of a human trafficking gang.
The screenplay for Lynne Ramsay's fourth film, also acclaimed on the Côte d'Azur, was based on Jonathan Ames' 2013 book and was by no means what was expected from the director. Taking an almost pulp intrigue, the filmmaker transforms it into an existential thriller about
a seemingly tough but suffering man.
Breaking conventions, Ramsay – drawing inspiration from Martin Scorsese's TAXI DRIVER (1976) among others – focuses not so much on criminal dealings but on the battered soul of Joe, both protagonist and antagonist. Her most recent fictional work is a dissection of a wounded soul, finding temporary solace in violence towards oneself and others.
Rafał Glapiak
