We have to talk about Kevin (2011)

Lynne Ramsey is one of the most interesting living directors. We have to talk about Kevin is a hard film to watch. It is a film that messes with your senses and probes your mind. Even a shallow attempt at depicting the event of the film contronts one with a problem: what is it that I saw? The film doesn't really have a narrator, but we are still place in a subjective point of view. Gradually, one is led to believe that this perspective is not very reliable. So, what kind of story is told and what does it mean that elements of this story bears the mark of skewed perception? The film consists of scenes that range from dreams to memories and what we think of as 'the contemporary level'. It is not a chronological unraveling of events but this does not make the film hard to follow. The relation between the scenes tell us something about how we are to understand the main character's feelings. Tilda Swinton plays the main character in a bold, brutal manner. She is the mother of a child who killed several of his school mates. The film follows their life together from early childhood. The bottom line is a general sense of lovelessness, paired with the naivete and haplessness of Swinton's character, Eva's husband. Does this sound like prime-time socio-porn to you? Indeed, some have interpreted in that way, as a shallow form of creating meaning out of a void.Think again. Ramsey is not giving us a gruesome picture that we are invited to wallow in. Her approach is sensual, she creates extremely vivid scenes that creep under the skin. Just the composition of the images made my hart beat harder, in worry, anticipation, fear. It is impossible to shrugg of her images. The film evokes a state of mind. A downside of the film: over-explicit use of music. Another thing that worried me: does it get too aesthetic, too much a film for the eyes? And what is the meaning of the story? Is Ramsey too lazy to articulate the story? Children can be evil, too? I don't think it is a sentimental celebration of motherly love or an accusation of a mother's lacking 'empathy' (what a horrible concepts). If one reads the film charitable, one can depict it as a way persons go deeper and deeper into misery so that all other possibilities are blocked out, so that even 'trying' becomes something artificial.