Thomas Bidegain’s tension-filled thriller Suddenly involves a couple marooned on a remote Antarctic island. Their hopes of survival diminish as days turn to weeks and months.
Ben (Gilles Lellouche) and Laura (Melanie Thiery) have been together for five years as they embark on a global sailing voyage. Their next populated port of call is a few days away when Ben decides to detour to an uninhabited island to take in the pristine wilderness. They anchor their boat within sight of the island and take an inflatable dinghy to the beach. As a particularly fierce storm is approaching, they try to scramble out of there, but are pushed back. Finding shelter, they see off the tempest only to discover their boat has disappeared.
Both are shattered. With no confidence, Ben assures Laura that his brother will send out a search party within a week, 10 days at most. But it doesn’t happen. With tempers frayed and little food or water, they start verbally sparring, which opens old wounds. With winter closing in, it’s a case of trying to hold on until they’re rescued – if they even can be rescued. That will challenge them individually and as a couple.
Suddenly is a phenomenal film that wears its heart on its sleeve. Writer-director Bidegain delivers a tightly-wound script in which the obstacles are plentiful. Though both protagonists are resourceful, hope is in short supply as the narrative develops. Cinematographer Nicolas Loir has done a fine job capturing the fearsome beauty of the island and its surrounds.
However, it’s left to Gilles Lellouche (Farewell Mr Haffman) and Melanie Thiery (Memoir of War) to do the heavy lifting and they excel. Both channel despair, frustration, anger, emotional closeness and desire. I found myself hanging on every scene, the same way I did when I saw Tom Hanks in Cast Away nearly 25 years ago.
I was left asking how much more Ben and Laura could take – alone and isolated. Theirs is literally a life and death struggle. Adapted from a novel by French author and sailor Isabelle Autissier, Suddenly is superbly rendered cinema.
Alex First
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Alex First is a Melbourne based journalist and communications specialist. He contributes to The Blurb on film and theatre.
