Making his English language debut, Norwegian director Joachim Trier has crafted a tricky relationship movie with deep-seated feelings at its core in Louder Than Bombs.
Three years after the untimely death of celebrated war photographer Isabelle Reed (Isabelle Huppert), her eldest son Jonah (Jesse Eisenberg), married with a recently born child, returns to his family home. It is there that he spends more time with his father Gene (Gabriel Byrne) and his withdrawn younger brother Conrad (Devin Druid) than he has in years. With the three of them under the same roof, Gene tries desperately to connect with his two sons, but they struggle to reconcile their feelings about the woman they remember so differently. Gene and Isabelle didn’t have an easy relationship.
Conrad, at age 15, appears to be a loner, engulfed in computer games and an online life, which his father finds hard to comprehend. He harshly dismisses any and all attempts by his dad to reach out to him. Jonah is an over-achiever, to whom we are introduced just as his baby is born and then when he reconnects in the hospital with a former girlfriend/lover as he is looking for food for his wife. As a man used to being in control, Jonah’s story is about delayed grief. Even though Jonah is outwardly calm, he and his father don’t see eye to eye about Isabelle. The narrative tracks the domino effect of Isabelle’s tragic death on home soil and the impact it has on the three males as they try to move forward with their respective lives.
In arriving at a title, the filmmakers looked for something that mirrored the balance between the small, tender pains of family life and the great ambitions and experiences of a mother working abroad as a war photographer. Trier finds the incomparability of pain intriguing. He tries to create stories with multiple perspectives, hopefully to gain insight into his characters’ lives.
As such, Louder Than Bombs is told in non-linear fashion, moving between layers of time to go inside different characters’ heads within the one story. So, it takes work on the part of the viewer. It is the silences and the anger and the flare-ups that speak volumes. It is definitely art house in its proclivities rather than mainstream.
Hurt and struggle seem to be constants as is the desire to cope, together with finding an outlet to connect. Each of the principal characters does it in their own way. The father finds a new partner, who he keeps to himself, one that will ultimately cause division between himself and his youngest son. That son, apart from losing himself in his online world, is experiencing strong feelings towards a girl in class. Despite all that he has achieved, his eldest son appears lost and seeks solace in the arms of his former partner. None of this is shared with his wife.
Both intriguing and to a point inaccessible, Louder Than Bombs is an excellent study into the complexities of human emotion. Featuring a series of outstanding performances, its treatment clearly will only appeal to a select crowd. Rated M, Louder Than Bombs scores a 7½ out of 10.
Director: Joachim Trier
Cast: Gabriel Byrne, Jesse Eisenberg, Devin Druid, Isabelle Huppert
Release Date: 11 August 2016 (limited)
Rating: M
Alex First
David Edwards is the editor of The Blurb and a contributor on film and television
