Snowflakes float through the opening frames of Everything Will Be Fine, the first fictional effort from The Salt of the Earth director Wim Wenders since 2008’s Palermo Shooting — and with it, so does a frosty mood. The markers of cold weather prove pivotal to the movie’s narrative, which hinges upon an accident on a snow-lined road; however, a considerable chill also infuses the filmmaker’s approach. The colours in cinematographer Benoît Debie’s (One More Time with Feeling) layered 3D visuals, the tone of composer Alexandre Desplat’s (The Secret Life of Pets) accompanying thriller-like music, and the stony expression of lead actor James Franco’s (Sausage Party) face all follow suit.
Indeed, the all-around lack of warmth that cools Every Thing Will Be Fine to its core even turns its title from a promise into a threat as the film burdens its characters with tragedy, then observes how they cope over the next twelve years. With the feature also boasting a scene discussing the overuse of language in a way that robs terms of their substance, the final word in the movie’s moniker echoes over and over again, even when it isn’t being repeatedly uttered. If everything will be fine, Wenders and screenwriter Bjorn Olaf Johannessen (The Disappearing Illusionist) seem to ask, then what does that mean?
Just as Quebec-based novelist Tomas Eldan (Franco) is caught by the icy climes swirling in the feature’s story and execution, he also hears the reassuring phrase more than once throughout Every Thing Will Be Fine’s duration. When his actions behind the wheel cause him to cross paths with illustrator Kate (Charlotte Gainsbourg, Independence Day: Resurgence) and her young son Christopher (played by 11.22.63’s Jack Fulton, newcomer Philippe Vanasse-Paquet and 19-2’s Robert Naylor as the years pass), it should be a form of comfort, though Tomas can spy little solace. Instead, his relationship with Sara (Rachel McAdams, Doctor Strange) disintegrates, and, after a self-destructive period, he throws himself into his writing. Then, he finds himself at Kate’s door once again, with his guilt still lingering as tries to carve out a life with new love with Ann (Marie-Josée Croze, The Narrow Frame of Midnight).
“The paradox with your kind of work is that nearly everything, in one way or another, can become a resource,” Tomas’ editor (Peter Stormare, TV’s Midnight Sun) advises — and if Wenders and Johannessen hadn’t made it obvious that their film would do the same as it explores their protagonist’s pain, it does in that blatant statement. Loaded with heavy silences, searching looks and explanatory dialogue, Every Thing Will Be Fine demonstrates the many ways in which a sudden, shocking incident can weigh down a film as much as it charts the splinters such an event causes in its characters’ existence.
The result thrusts clumsiness and obviousness to the fore, rather than complexity and intricacy, in an effort that unsuccessfully endeavours to use its contemplative air to conjure emotional resonance. Thankfully, while the narrative follows a predictable path, as does the corresponding sentiment, Wenders ensures it does so with immersive sights and sounds. Perhaps that’s by design; in an angst-ridden state of turmoil, even one so conveyed so coolly, what’s seen and heard becomes more immediate and engrossing — and capable of expressing feeling — than tales told or lines spoken. Perhaps it’s simply a case of the movie’s style exceeding its story. Either way, its visuals and score aside, Every Thing Will Be Fine meanders towards its conclusion in a cursory and anticlimactic fashion, both for Tomas and company, and for the audience.
Rating: 2 ½ stars out of 5
Every Thing Will Be Fine
Director: Wim Wenders
Germany | Canada | France | Sweden | Norway, 2015, 118 mins
Rating: 15+
German Film Fest Australia
www.goethe.de
Sydney / Melbourne / Brisbane / Canberra
15 – 30 November 2016
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