30/08/2024 - VENICE 2024: Alexandros Avranas’s latest effort tackles a highly sensitive topic – child resignation syndrome – but does so through overly slow pacing and flat acting

Grigory Dobrygin, Chulpan Khamatova, Naomi Lamp and Miroslava Pashutina in Quiet Life

In his latest feature, Greek filmmaker Alexandros Avranas tackles a highly sensitive topic perhaps not so well known amongst the general public – child resignation syndrome. The picture, titled Quiet Life [+see also:
trailer
interview: Alexandros Avranas
film profile], has premiered in the Orizzonti competition of this year’s Venice Film Festival.

Set in Sweden in 2018, the movie zooms in on a family of four. Sergei (Grigory Dobrygin) and Natalia (Chulpan Khamatova) have been forced to flee Russia after an attack that almost took the man’s life. In the meantime, a mysterious syndrome is affecting the refugees, sparking great concern. The couple settled in with their two young daughters – Alina (Naomi Lamp) and her younger sister, Katja (Miroslava Pashutina) – waiting for the migration board to decide on their asylum application. After their application is rejected, Katja falls into a mysterious coma, triggering a seemingly unstoppable downward spiral.

Although the chosen narrative focus may be original and timely enough, what makes this cinematic experience particularly problematic is its excruciatingly slow pacing, further exacerbated by all of the cast members’ flat acting, including that of its four leads. Except for a few moments of sudden anger and hysteria, everything feels too slow, too silent and too subtle. Paradoxically, at times, one can close one’s eyes and struggle to recognise the voices of each character – and this is particularly noticeable when it comes to hearing the dialogues of the adult women.

Generally speaking, Avranas’s 360-degree approach to minimalism is visually neat, but does not evoke any empathy or engagement. All of the environments look pale and lifeless, and the technical elements – including the score, production design, cinematography and costume design – don’t manage to leave a mark, conveying an overwhelming sense of anonymity, most likely intentional but ultimately ineffective.

On top of that, the last third of the film tries to prompt some kind of emotional response, but Avranas doesn’t quite hit the mark here. In sum, in this part of the story, screenwriter Stavros Pamballis and the helmer fall into the traps of cliché and excessive pathos. Clear examples of this are the scene during which Sergei and Natalia spoon-feed ice-cream to their daughters, or the one in which the four drive around the block, subsequently taking a stroll wearing sunglasses and hoping to regain a sense of normalcy. A gentle, mawkish score comes in during a subsequent scene, only to reappear during the opening credits. And, during said credits, Avranas clearly felt the need to add a few lines explaining what child resignation syndrome is and its current societal impact, just to make sure the audience hasn’t forgotten the whole point of this film.

Quiet Life is a co-production by France’s Les Films du Worso and Elle Driver, Germany’s Senator Film Produktion, Sweden’s Fox in the Snow Films, Estonia’s Amrion, Greece’s Playground Valtetsiou and Asterisk*, and Finland’s Making Movies. Elle Driver is also selling the picture worldwide.