Ever watch a movie simply because it's on IMDb' top 250? I have many times, with mixed results. In all likelihood, I would not have watched this Denis Villeneuve piece otherwise, except maybe if a group invited me. I've grown wary (and weary) of dramas set in the modern Middle East.
The film, like the Wajdi Mouawad play on which it's based, actually never clarifies where in the Middle East it is. Shooting took place in Jordan, but the warring between Muslims and Christians, combined with the timeline, suggests Mouawad's homeland of Lebanon. At any rate, the first scene is clearly in Canada, where Christian immigrant Nawal has just died and her adult twin children, whose names have been assimilated to Jeanne and Simon, are surprised at her last wishes: They must deliver letters to their biological father, whom they'd heard had died before they were born; and their half-brother, whom they never heard of. Simon is inclined to dismiss his mother as crazy -- she did go catatonic for a while -- but Jeanne drags him into a fairly dangerous search in the old country, with help from the notary.
I guess Nawal told her children exceedingly little about her past, as they have to unravel it bit by bit. They gain respect and especially sympathy for her with each new find. Oddly enough, the audience gets to learn things before the researching characters do, in flashbacks starting from Nawal's young adulthood. I won't go into the sordid details, but it becomes perfectly clear why she fled. Her homeland family and neighbors reacted awfully harshly to her transgressions. (Foolish ones, but still.) Aspects concerning the father of Jeanne and Simon tell them more than they ever wanted to know.
It is difficult for me to recommend a mystery/drama this disturbing. Even the first scene is intensely emotional, and the characters don't know the half yet. Fortunately, the ending gets bittersweet with Nawal posthumously providing a strong dose of what had been scarce in her life: forgiveness. That must be the overall point.
If you feel up to such a ride, go ahead. Just...leave enough time in the day for a palate cleanser of some sort.
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