«Destroyer: Why such a lukewarm reception?3 reading minutes

Cinema Wednesdays cinéma - Hélène Lavoyer

In Erin Bell's (Nicole Kidman) gaze, colder than the Arctic seas, little can be read. A hangover and distress, at best. When she gets out of her car and drags herself to the scene of a recent crime, this LAPD detective is a sight to behold. Leaning over the corpse of a man with a tattoo on the back of his neck, her attention seems far removed from the dirt road along a Los Angeles canal. With an ink-stained banknote and the contacts of a past life as her only clues, she throws herself onto the asphalt and winding roads of a past with heavy consequences.

Accompanied by her car and vendetta fever, Erin, who is also trying to get her sixteen-year-old daughter to forgive her for her absence and to be «better than she is», doesn't wait. The images of her story, which torment her sleep and punctuate the narrative, are all keys to understanding that she may not just be the victim of an undercover mission gone wrong, but the enforcer of a tragedy that tore the fragile membrane of hope surrounding the heart in many people. For her, with no hope of remission.

That a thriller should keep us on the edge of our seats, from first shot to last, is a very minimal expectation, but one that many films of the genre fail to fulfill, so much so that they revolve around classic enigmas and stereotyped roles. The fact that it gives us an auditory, visual and emotional experience is therefore unhoped-for. Destroyer, by Karyn Kusama, responds with subtlety to those desires we dare not admit to ourselves (for fear of disappointment). In spite of a few clumsinesses that don't justify the film's lukewarm reception from international critics.

No, the film isn't just about Nicole Kidman's critically acclaimed performance. Nicole Kidman's critically acclaimed performance. Her performance as Erin Bell is remarkable: she manages to convey the torture of regret regret and the weight of guilt. She teaches us about her character her character as she moves between present and past, through flashbacks, by not overplaying his neurotic sides nor annihilating her humanity. But, in addition to the physical transformation which makes her unrecognizable and a lead role on which the story hinges, the has other subtleties.

Take the treatment of image and sound, for example: they form a well-crafted, coherent tandem. Subtle touches are used to integrate the story, as when music begins in one of the temporalities and accompanies the arrival in the other. As if to illustrate the extent to which the past remains intrinsically linked to the inspector's present (and, extrapolating, to that of many, both inside and outside the cinema). Discreet but well-launched echoes, too, when the blurred lights of headlights or signal lights, very present on screen, echo natural elements at the close of the story.

If there's anything to reproach Destroyer (apart from its title, which heightens the expectation of spectacular and much more brutal action) are the close-ups of the lead actress's face. The director, perhaps aware of the astonishing effect Nicole Kidman's metamorphosis has on the viewer, goes a little overboard. Erin's relationship with her daughter, too, seems to be too much removed from the narrative and unfortunately feels a little superficial, when their bond could have further unraveled certain emotional facets of the character.

But enigma, suspense and great shots are on the menu, not to mention Theodore Shapiro's soundtrack, which mixes natural, metallic and bass noises to great effect. It's also worth noting that the role of the wounded, vengeful cop has in the past tended to be played by men, and that in this scenario, where it's taken on by a woman, gender doesn't matter so much after all, which is pleasing. The woman on screen is not used as a marketing tool, but tells her own story. And in the end, the denouement, in particular, overturns what we had thought...

Write to the author: helene.lavoyer@leregardlibre.com

Photo credit: © Ascot Elite Entertainment