The Forgiven
The beginning of “The Forgiven” follows a couple on their way to a weekend retreat in the desert as if they are spies going to a clandestine meeting. They will encounter death on their trip, however, which makes the weekend null and void. What transpires for them, however, is a brush with spirituality and freedom that neither has really felt in ages. When writer-director John Michael McDonagh centers in on those moments, “The Forgiven” has focus and interest.
David and Jo Henninger (Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain) are in Morocco for a lavish, debauched weekend hosted by a couple (Matt Smith and Caleb Landry Jones) who have a vacation home isolated in the desert. They are stoic and seem like they are just putting on the facade of a happy marriage by keeping appearances. David, who’s driving them, is a drinker, and as they are trying to find their way to the house, they hit a boy who runs out in the middle of the road, killing him. Rather than wait for the police, they take the boy’s body with them to the house, where the police investigation will start in earnest. When the boy’s father (Ismael Kanater) comes to retrieve the body, he also asks that David comes with him, leaving Jo alone to try and enjoy the weekend.
Based on a novel by Lawrence Osborne, “The Forgiven” is, quite frankly, dull up to the point when the father comes into the story. The performers- who also include Christopher Abbott as an American who takes a liking to Jo- do well in the roles, but as written, the characters are dreadfully vapid archetypes with nothing worthwhile to say about them as characters, although that really does work for how oblivious these people are to the world around them, much less the natives of Morocco. When the film focuses in on Fiennes and Chastain, it’s a compelling look at peeling back the layers of these characters to find something interesting there. David’s trip with the father is profound, but we also get the feeling that he has been so closed off to other people that, even when he is faced with such humanity, that he might not connect with this father, even though they are connected by this event. Kanater probably gives the best performance of the film, as a father whom is wrestling with his own complicated feelings of grief, and must decide how to interact with the man responsible for that grief. The rest of the film feels hollow, even when the ending ties it all together.
