The Forgiven (2021 | UK/USA | 117 minutes | John Michael McDonagh)
Clearly, a big mood for mid-pandemic entertainment is the foibles of the insufferably privileged on holiday. Here, as in Mike White’s exceptional HBO limited series the White Lotus, the film opens with a wealthy couple arriving by boat at an exotic destination. This time, it’s a ferry to Tangiers where, not for the first time, Ralph Fiennes is set to have a very terrible time in the desert. He plays a rich doctor, functional alcoholic, and husband to Jessica Chastain’s Jo, a bored housewife and occasional author of children’s books.
Neither seem to be particularly happy to be with each other, let alone to be driving across Morocco for what will turn out to be a ghastly weekend in the High Atlas mountains. The occasion is a “housewarming” at palatial ksour that — age differences be damned in casting or writing — his old “school friend” Richard (a catty and composed Matt Smith) and his lover Dally (Caleb Landry Jones, taking a break from his usual casting to give “flamboyant” a shot) have recently renovated to opulent splendor. They’ve curated guestlist of flashy friends and a few minor celebrities to luxuriate and gawk at what all their money built.
They show up late, the result of tragic accident on their long night’s drive that they initially hope to sweep under the carpet through the magic of wealth. Instead, it motivates the pair to spend the ensuing days apart having vastly different experiences. He is diverted on a trek to a rural village under constant threat of mortal danger, where his callous deflective exterior just might crack to allow reflection and growth. She, in the company of their host’s coterie of monied friends, where mountains of cocaine and an American investment banker played by Christopher Abbott cause her to re-evaluate the course of her life. At times, it feels like Fiennes’s story since he has the bigger emotional beats and more dramatic trajectory. Still, Chastain does considerable work in the less showy role, communicating the shifts occurring deep below her character’s glossy surfaces.
The scenes at the castle are shot like an Architectural Digest photo spread while capturing the vast natural beauty of the surrounding countryside. Despite all the comforts at their disposal, having fun seems almost beyond the point for all of the guests. It’s an oddly lifeless affair that unsympathetically skewers the entire sneering menagerie of ostentations revelers like exotic creatures. Aside from the house staff that attend to their needs, no one comes off particularly well, particularly as McDonagh uses the split storylines to draw stark contrasts between the insular lives of the pampered party guests and the surrounding poverty where locals rely on roadside sales of fossils to fuel their dreams.
These people aren’t all great company, but it’s a fascinating watch. Still with no escape from the grim contradictions of all this privilege, we share in the hosts’ relief as they finally send their guests away after the long weekend.
Header image: The Forgiven (Credit: Nick Wall, courtesy TIFF)