«The Brothers Sisters: The Good, the Bad and the Natural

Cinema Wednesdays - Alexandre Wälti

Two brothers, the Wild West and the light. French director Jacques Audiard presents The Sisters Brothers. It is close to the blockbuster, without his film becoming one. He has one foot in the codes of the Western and the other in those of visual aesthetics. An adventure in which brutality gives rise to a form of brotherhood.

Every bang is there for a reason. The opening scene shows this perfectly: a seven-minute cinema lesson. For that alone, the film is a must-see! First, night, mysterious; a wide shot reveals a charcoal landscape; the horizon obscure; in the middle, misty, the silhouette of a house; then voices resound, warnings. Tension mounts.

Suddenly, gunfire erupts. Screams. All we can see are the explosions at the end of the rifles. They illuminate just enough to understand what's happening: a brutal massacre, somewhere in 19th-century America.^th century. A man enters the house, the light leaks on corpses. He shoots those still alive at point-blank range and calls out a name. The man thinks of escaping through the roof, slips and falls straight in front of another man who shoots him without flinching.

Illuminating characters

Here they are, the Sisters brothers and their reputation! Charlie (Joaquin Phoenix) calls his brother Eli (John C. Reilly). We know from the outset, from the way Audiard poses his two main characters, that the former is more violent than the latter, except we don't know why. After seeing the fire in the barn, they leave with a sense of accomplishment.

The adventure then begins in earnest with a new contract: to torture and obtain a formula from chemist Hermann Kermit Warm (Riz Ahmed). Morris (Jake Gyllenhaal) is already on to him and informs the Sisters brothers. It's rumored in the villages that Warm has the ability to make precious metals appear in rivers. All this takes place at the height of the gold rush. Hello Jack London! Hello Henry David Thorea!

A chase begins from Oregon to California. Until then, one thing is certain: brutality. Yes, but the rest of the story gradually reveals, even in the midst of horror, the brotherhood that can link those who initially chase each other and end up liking each other in one way or another. A bond created by the dream of the hunted Warm. But how? It's up to you to find out!

Revealing who they really are

Jacques Audiard's real achievement is his use of light. The impression that it always appears natural, making the numerous and important camping scenes around the fire so authentic and vivid. The light of the flames, for example, is all that's needed to illuminate the character traits that help us better understand the souls of the two brothers. Bluffing! Just as the personalities of the four protagonists appear naturally in the rays entering through a window or radiating from a lamp.

It's all an intense, wonderful spectacle! It's a good thing some filmmakers still believe in the dramatic power of light!

Write to the author: alexandre.waelti@leregardlibre.com

Photo credit: © Ascot Elite