12/09/2023 - Drenched in atmospheric tension and brimming with raw emotional undercurrents, Hanna Slak’s latest film is a thriller-drama tackling coming-of-age traumas

Slovenian-born, Berlin-based writer-director Hanna Slak's follow-up to her acclaimed drama The Miner [+see also:
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trailer
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film profile]. The family drama, which has screened in the Platform section of Toronto, delves into concealed trauma and the aftermath of violence.

Orchestra conductor Nina (Maren Eggert) is deeply engrossed in preparations for a rendition of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No 5, poised to be a pivotal moment in her career. However, the rehearsals are interrupted when her son, Lars (Jona Levin Nicolai), falls out of a window at school in an alleged accident. Opting for a respite, she takes Lars to an island on the Atlantic coast, a place imbued with much-cherished family memories. Although Lars has not fully come to terms with his parents' divorce and his choice of destination may be primarily nostalgia-driven, the intended therapeutic getaway fuels the alienation between mother and son.

In her most recent endeavour, Slak dissects modern family dynamics, in particular at a moment of crisis. Nina, a single parent, navigates the challenges of a demanding profession while raising a child who is entering adolescence. Meanwhile, Lars grapples with his parents' separation, maintaining a bond with his father, and now having suffered this harrowing incident at school. The tumultuous cocktail of Lars's emotions threatens to combust, prompting Nina to momentarily set aside her projects – firstly, to recognise the depth of her son's struggles, and secondly, to begin mending a rift that, while not uncommon during adolescence, has become particularly pronounced between them. Furthermore, Lars's psyche has been deeply affected by a recent, unsettling incident in which a young girl from his school tragically perished in a dumpster fire.

The island they retreat to, enveloped in a bleak atmosphere, offers a landscape and some unpredictable weather that frame Nina and Lars's familial journey through an unconventional, self-imposed form of psychotherapy. Slak keeps the emotional tension subtle, employing the weather as a conduit to reflect the characters’ inner sentiments. Not a Word is a modern parent-child take on Wuthering Heights, with the landscape serving as a symbol of solace, liberation, confinement and decline. The weather mirrors the mental states of upheaval, latent anxiety, despair, trauma and redemption. This stormy natural backdrop, highlighting both the controllable and out-of-control aspects of human existence, is palpably captured by seasoned cinematographer Claire Mathon (Spencer [+see also:
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Moreover, Mahler's Symphony No 5 is woven in throughout the film, musically mirroring the pivotal mother-son relationship. Composer Amélie Legrand draws on Mahler's symphonic transition from darkness to light in order to chart the evolution of Jona Levin Nicolai's character. By referencing sections of Mahler's work, from the Funeral March to Rondo-Finale, she taps into the expansive emotional canvas to underscore both the personal and shared challenges of Nina and Lars. Slak approaches this with a restrained tone, eschewing overt on-screen melodrama.

Centring on the nuances of single parenting and delving into the complexities of such a relationship, Not a Word seamlessly blends a chamber parental thriller with a trauma-driven coming-of-age tale and the social dimension of being a single parent. Slak's introspective drama confronts a parent-child crisis, exacerbated by communication breakdowns. Employing a cyclical structure, the film grapples with the fallout while attempting to bridge the divide. The unspoken and implicit elements add important layers of tension. Equally haunting and hopeful, the movie reaffirms Slak's prowess in rendering tempestuous emotional journeys on screen.

Not a Word was produced by Germany’s Volte, France’s Ici et Là Productions and Slovenia’s Tramal Films. Beta Cinema handles the international sales.