In the fashion of great epics, Denis Villeneuve delivers a majestic, tragic and intense story that capture an impressive struggles of love, war and violence. In the wake of Nawal Marwan's (Lubna Azabal) death her two adult children seek to understand her and doing so they uncover an journey that culminates in a shocking end.
Nawal Marwan has just passed away. Her twins, Jeanne (Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin) and Simon (Maxim Gaudette) with her friend and employer, Jean Lebel (Rémy Girard) sit alone in Jean's office to review Nawal's last will and testament. The will contains very unusual requests with regards to Nawal's final preparations and burial, and ends with a request that Jeanne and Simon deliver two sealed letters, one to their father and another to their brother. Believing that their father died years ago in the Middle East and having no knowledge of a sibling, Simon believes the will is proof of his mother's insanity. But Jeanne will do nothing less than carry out her mother's wishes and returns to the Middle East to find her father and brother. Jeanne eventually reaches a point in which she needs Simon's help, he reluctantly comes to her aid and Jean provides additional help via his friends and connections. What they find is a turmoil filled past fueled by religious conflict.
Throughout the film, Nawal's past and the twin's present run in parallel in titled sequences, a subtle nod of the films origins in the theatre. As the past and present play out side by side, Villeneuve studies the effect of violence over time. The film highlights how religion has been manipulated and made to withstand honor killings, genocide, torture and sexual assault and at the same time shows the psychological effects of the violence in the Stockholm syndrome and post traumatic stress disorders. The atrocities carried out by Christian and Muslim indict both.
Azabal, Désormeaux-Poulin, Gaudette and Girard all deliver performances that can carry the weight of this taut psychological thriller. Villeneuve hold the suspense in all of its frightening glory until the final scenes. And as is often the case in great Classic tragedies, what has happened to Nawal, Jeanne and Simon comes together in that final shocking moment. "Incendies" unwinds and in the words of Don Delillo, "the innocents… [try] to make some rough sense of the daily jostle," and we the audience are left breathless in its wake.
"Incendies" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The film won eight awards at the 31st Genie Awards, including Best Motion Picture, Best Actress (Lubna Azabal), Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Overall Sound and Sound Editing.
Cast (in credit order): Lubna Azabal (Nawal Marwan), Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin (Jeanne Marwan), Maxim Gaudette (Simon Marwan), Rémy Girard (Notary Jean Lebel), Abdelghafour Elaaziz (Abou Tarek), full cast and crew.US Release Date: 6 May 2011 (limited). Adapted and directed by Denis Villeneuve; original play Scorched written by Wajdi Mouawad. Released by Sony Picture Classics. Running time: 130 minutes; MPAA Rated R for some strong violence and language; genre: Drama.
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