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FILMS / REVIEWS

We Need to Talk About Kevin

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- A Machiavellian son and an outstanding Tilda Swinton as a broken mother. In competition at Cannes in 2011.

For her third film, British helmer Lynne Ramsay was back last May at the Cannes Film Festival where We Need To Talk About Kevin [+see also:
trailer
interview: Lynne Ramsay
film profile
]
was screened in Official Competition almost a decade after her second film Morvern Callar [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
.

Eva (Tilda Swinton) is a young woman who has given up everything to have her first child, Kevin (Ezra Miller). The two have a difficult relationship from the start and her son’s worrying behaviour becomes even more troubling on the eve of his 16th birthday, when he commits a shocking and unforgiveable act, not only for his mother, but for an entire community plunged into sorrow and mourning. Before forgiving Kevin, Eva first has to overcome her own feelings of guilt, deeply rooted in her persona since the birth of her child, and even before that perhaps.

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Produced in the UK by Independent and adapted from Lionel Shriver’s American bestseller, We Need To Talk About Kevin differs from most British productions in that the directing style is unusual and the photography more what one would expect from an independent US production.

The story is set in the US, opening skilfully with much silence and lethargic editing, in order to communicate the feelings of the central character, Eva. Aside from variations in focus, literally, the visual metaphors recall blood and the flashbacks are like pieces of an incomplete puzzle whose motive, however, is clearly distinguishable.

The facial expressions of the British actress tell her story and she physically carries the stigma of the drama that has completely marginalised her. The stakes are quickly established and Eva must now get back on track by drawing some strength from her memories as she deals with her responsibility in her child’s appalling behaviour.

Ramsay subtly underlines the errors of a mother in desperate straits confronted with an offspring who acts as if he were the son of Satan. Kevin is a monster at every age. This is a true horror film, very different from Gus Van Sant’s Elephant, which depicts the same drama. Kevin is unsound, provocative and Machiavellian in everything he does. He manipulates a slightly devil-may-care father (John C. Reilly) to isolate more irreparably his mother in a crescendo of distress until the irreparable is committed.

It is here that one has to look for the reasons for all the maternal guilt. Eva blames her failure as a parent, when she could have seen the disaster coming. Beyond this, however, Ramsey prefers to dwell on the question of acceptance for the sake of maternal love, for the sake of life even, which has come to a standstill because Eva cannot learn to accept.

As the title suggests, We Need To Talk About Kevin is a film on communication breakdowns and misunderstandings in a family when one of its members acts entirely irrationally. In order to create a portrait of this woman who completely interiorises her suffering, Ramsay opts not to stay entirely anchored to evocation and to give us some (relatively) more explicit images every so often. In the end, viewers are confronted with a decision that makes it difficult to take a position. A fact which they can rest assured is the desired effect.

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(Translated from French)

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