“Proxima” – Almost next [MOVIE REVIEW]

Eva Green as Sarah in "Proxima." Photo courtesy of

Eva Green as Sarah in “Proxima.” Photo courtesy of Vertical Entertainment.

“Proxima,” the thoughtful film directed and co-written by Alice Winocour is complicated in ways that she may not have intended. Working with a top notch international cast, she has produced a nuanced, intimate portrait of a conflicted woman about to leave on the trip of a lifetime.

Sarah, a French astronaut, has been chosen as part of an international team departing for the Soyuz space station. Sarah and two other astronauts will leave on what will be a one year mission to simulate the time frame and circumstances of what could be expected on a manned project to Mars in the near future. The training has been arduous but she is physically prepared.

Sarah, separated from her husband, an astrophysicist working in Germany, lives with her seven year old daughter Stella. The bond between the two is strong, although the neediness is a somewhat dysfunctional two-way street. Sarah worries over every detail in Stella’s life and overcompensates. Her exacting standards have made it difficult for her husband Thomas to stay in Stella’s life but that will now have to change. Pre-launch training is imminent and Stella must be uprooted not just from her mother but also from France. Her adjustment to a new country, a new school and new classmates will be extremely difficult and she will be resentful of her mother. But to Sarah’s surprise, and a bit of dismay, Stella does adjust and begins to thrive in a way that she couldn’t when living with her mother.

Becoming an astronaut has been a life-long dream for Sarah and she feels she is prepared. If not hostility, she faces skepticism from her male colleagues, especially Mike, the American commander of the group; Anton, their Russian colleague, is a bit more generous in his assessment of Sarah. Mike doesn’t disguise his disdain for some of Sarah’s weaknesses, pointedly calling her out as a Space Tourist. Even he realizes he’s gone a bit far.

Winocour is particularly adept at showing the difficult bars that Sarah must hurdle as a woman in a man’s world. Her missteps almost all center around activities or communications with Stella who is always quick to point out the promises that Sarah made and has broken.  It is a terrific portrait of a woman in conflict; desire versus duty; physical readiness against emotional turmoil. Clearly Sarah has not resolved her need to succeed against her need for her child. And therein lies the rub.

Early feminist theory was that women, like men, could have it all. The false assumption was that men had it all. They didn’t. Generally speaking, they did not have “family” like women had “family.” Something is always sacrificed. But Sarah (and by proxy, Winocour) believe she can have it all if only she can overcome the prejudices of men who doubt the abilities of women like her. Sarah’s physical abilities for the job at hand are at and above what is demanded. What neither she (and again, Winocour) are unable or unwilling to admit is that Sarah is not emotionally up to the task. The flaw in Winocour’s thinking about equality, and I’m making an assumption that this is what she intended, appears toward the end.

Eva Green as Sarah and Zélie Boulant as Stella in “Proxima.” Photo courtesy of Vertical Entertainment.

Spoiler alert, although this is a character piece so it’s not much of a spoiler. When Stella misses her last opportunity to be with Sarah prior to Sarah’s mission-mandated quarantine, Sarah is distraught. Stella and Thomas will arrive to see lift-off and wave good bye but there will be no physical contact. Sarah cannot bear the thought of not touching her child for a year and devises a way to escape the compound and quarantine to be with her child one last time. The meeting satisfies them both and Sarah sneaks back in to the complex in advance of the next day’s launch. Self-satisfied and smug, having cheated the system, Sarah marches off with Mike and Anton, waving goodbye to the crowd and especially Stella who watches lift-off with stars in her eyes. But what has she really accomplished? She cheated, she showed she wasn’t ready emotionally. With a last gaze at her daughter, she enters the capsule as the Space Tourist that Mike had accused her of being earlier. She couldn’t compete on a level playing field.

I don’t think this is what Winocour had intended. She probably thought she was writing a feminist drama and throughout most of the film, she had. She laid out in both subtle and direct ways the difficulties that women face in crashing the barriers to equality. But then, in the end, Sarah cheated; she let down her colleagues, whether they knew it or not; and, in the long run, she let down her daughter.

Eva Green, as Sarah, was superb. There are no broad strokes in her performance, only nuance. She lets you feel her pain and ambivalence. You feel every arrow that pierces her and you understand her emotional need for her daughter, a need that borders on an unhealthy co-dependence. Lars Eidinger as Thomas has a fairly small but pivotal role. Although an ex, he conveys his understanding of his wife’s needs and weaknesses better than she does. And Zélie Boulant as Stella is a real find. She is pitch perfect in vulnerability, resentment, and resilience.

Matt Dillon as Mike, the American lead astronaut, isn’t given much to work with. It would seem as though Winocour cast him as a macho villain to underscore sympathy for Sarah but, in the end, Dillon finds the warmth within his character to allow a more three-dimensional portrayal.

A real strength of the film is in its international appeal. This is a story that involves characters from the Soviet Union, Germany, America, and France. All of the characters with the exception of the American (of course) are conversant in two or more languages. Sarah speaks French, Russian, English, and German.

Many will disagree with my interpretation of Sarah’s final act, but whether you do or don’t, this is a film well worth watching.

In English, French, German, and Russian with appropriate subtitles.

Opening Friday November 6, VOD and digital formats.

 

 

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