Emotional Arithmetic
Emotional Arithmetic is a story of healing, reconciliation... and love. On a gentle autumn day, Melanie discovers that Jakob Bronski, the man who saved her life, is still alive. Despite the many years since she has seen him and the grumblings of her husband, she invites him to her family home, an idyllic farmhouse on the shore of a lake in the Eastern Townships in Quebec. Jakob arrives with a surprise - Christopher - Christopher Lewis, the Irish boy with whom she was held captive in Drancy, an internment camp outside of Paris during WWII. The past explodes into the present in an unexpected and tender love story which is life altering for them and for those around them.
Member Reviews
The film just does not add up! - Freespace
The cast is superb, the storyline has potential and the cinematography is certainly up to grade. Susan Surandon lights up the screen as I am a fan of her work!
But ultimately the screenplay is weak as many questions go unanswered.
In the end, despite the potential, the film basically disappoints.It is all in her eyes - RoddyPiper
Arithmetic – numerals representing the arrivals of trains to Dancy, France, pre- and during WWII, notating the quantities of male and female human beings of various ages; and similar figures of departures, to the German death camps.
Emotion – the experience of the human beings represented by the arithmetic, by a man and two children. Watch the face of Max Von Sydow, and the eyes of Susan Sarandon. The hero’s face contains what is left of the experience, tatters left over from torture and suffering. The woman’s eyes contain everything -- it is all there: the past horror, the forms of salvation, and intertwined incipient madness. She is the last witness. An incredible performance.
This is the amazing portrait of horror filtered through the effort of survival, the reactivation of happiness, recurring nightmares, and the full remembrance of things past.
(-my comments July 09)Superb cast, compelling story - Steady
Melanie and David have a nice enough life on a farm in the Eastern Townships. Their son Benjamin and grandson Timmy are visiting. Life is pretty set until Melanie gets a letter from Jakob who she knows from almost 60 years before from the Drancy transfer site outside of Paris. Jakob is going to visit.
He shows up with an unexpected visitor and so unwinds a story from the past and the present. Sarandon is perfect for the role. Christopher Plummer got a Genie nomination for Best Actor. And Dakota Goyo does a great job as Timmy. Add Gabriel Byrne and Max von Sydow to the cast and we’re in for a treat of superb acting.
Member Reviews
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The film just does not add up! - Freespace
The cast is superb, the storyline has potential and the cinematography is certainly up to grade. Susan Surandon lights up the screen as I am a fan of her work!
But ultimately the screenplay is weak as many questions go unanswered.
In the end, despite ...It is all in her eyes - RoddyPiper
Arithmetic – numerals representing the arrivals of trains to Dancy, France, pre- and during WWII, notating the quantities of male and female human beings of various ages; and similar figures of departures, to the German death camps.
Emotion – the experience ...Superb cast, compelling story - Steady
Melanie and David have a nice enough life on a farm in the Eastern Townships. Their son Benjamin and grandson Timmy are visiting. Life is pretty set until Melanie gets a letter from Jakob who she knows from almost 60 years before from the Drancy transfer site ...