My Zoe
Julie Delpy gives us a lot to process in “My Zoe.” In the second half of the film, a choice is made to shift the movie from one thing to something else entirely, and it’s hard to know quite what to think about that. The most important thing is, “Does that shift work?” Even as I write this review, I’m still kind of pondering that, but it’s definitely something that works in the film’s benefit more than to its detriment. I’ll let you know more on the other side.
Delpy stars as Isabelle, a scientist working in Germany and separated from her husband (James, played by Richard Armitage) after their relationship imploded with toxicity. She is struggling to keep things together while they continue to go back-and-forth on how joint custody for their daughter, Zoe, works; it’s an acrimonious situation where Isabelle, who is seeing someone new, feels like she is being punished in the custody situation when it comes to her job. One morning, she goes to wake up Zoe, but she won’t wake up, and she needs to be taken to the hospital, and the situation brings up the animosity between her and James all over again.
“My Zoe” initially debuted in 2019, and it’s been awaiting release ever since. Based solely on the first half of the film, the easiest explanation for that delay is that Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story” sucked all of the oxygen from the room of the marital drama genre that year, and it’s a shame because there are moments of familial tension as palpably tense and well-acted as in that film. An easier explanation is for what happens in the second half of the film, and I will try to tread lightly in terms of spoilers. Needless to say, the family tragedy regarding Zoe opens up the wounds between this couple wide, especially the worse things look for her. At a breaking point, Isabelle is determined to preserve a piece of her daughter for the future, and where that decision takes her turns the film into something completely different. Does it work? I think it’s in keeping with the character arc of Isabelle, even though it still leaves her morally conflicted for a number of reasons; given the continuity it brings to her arc, though, it works. That doesn’t mean the execution is successful, though, although that’s as much for questions we are left asking that we probably shouldn’t be asking when it’s all said and done.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen a film Delpy has directed, but she gets fine work out of her other actors here. Armitage reveals James’s toxic traits, but also a side of him that loves his daughter, and cares deeply when his family is in pain- he even shows Isabelle some genuine empathy when she’s having a difficult time dealing with what they’re going through. As a doctor Isabelle hopes can help bring Zoe back to her, Daniel Brühl does a nice balancing act of keeping the character ethically grounded, but also curious enough to see if his experimentation with work. As Brühl’s wife, Gemma Arterton is someone who can help Isabelle navigate through the pain she’s feeling, but also be firm with her husband if she feels he is going too far. When the film centers in on the characters, and their emotional journeys, “My Zoe” is as strong a domestic drama as you can find. When it goes off the beaten path narratively, it’s not as successful, but really, there’s no where else for the film to go by that point.
