The Broken Circle Breakdown

Synopsis: An unconventional Belgian couple, Elise (Veerle Baetens), a tattoo artist and bluegrass musician, Didier (Johan Heldenbergh), fall in love, get married and have a child, Maybelle (Nell Catrysse). They share a rustic, joy-filled life until tragedy hits in the form of an aggressive childhood cancer. The disease ultimately kills six-year old Maybelle and the circle of their life is broken.
    
There is much to like about this intense relationship drama. Through flashbacks we see the early days of the couple's relationship when they spend half their time having passionate sex and the other half obsessing over bluegrass music. Then we jump forward to their disintegrating relationship as they struggle to deal with the tragedy of their child’s death.  The oscillating narrative is interspersed with staged performances of Didier’s bluegrass band, in which Elise is the lead singer.

By far the strongest element of the film which is based on a stage play are the performances, especially that of Nell Catrysse as Maybelle, who is an exceptional child actor. Her portrayal of a dying six-year old is beguiling and honest, Veerle Baetens and Johan Heldenbergh bring a deep physical and emotional connection to their roles as grieving parents. Their struggle to preserve their marriage under the burden of tragedy is brave and results in a powerful film.

The songs of loss and grief are beautifully rendered and are used by Van Groeningen to knit the discontinuous story together and underpin it emotionally.  This did not entirely work for me however the constant temporal shifts becoming distracting and by half-way beginning to fracture my engagement in the drama. Whilst this technique works beautifully in many films where time and place change significantly such as 21 Grams and The Hours, it is overused here and gets in the way of what is a moving account of events which, after all, happened in a linear time frame.

 

 

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