‘The world is a dreadful place, my father used to say…’
Rich people in jeopardy is a hot topic in pop culture right now, as I covered here and here. We’ve had the cream of the crop (Succession, White Lotus, Triangle of Sadness) and it seems we are now already on the road towards scraping the barrel. The Forgiven has all the hallmarks of a successful take on this well-worn trope. Prestige cast. Intriguing premise. Sun-drenched location. And yet, it lacks something…
David (Ralph Fiennes) and Jo (Jessica Chastain) find themselves in hot water when they accidentally hit and kill a local man on a trip to Morocco. When the boy’s father demands that someone must return to their village to help bury his son, David has no choice but to go with him. He leaves Jo behind with a pair of aristocrats (played by Matt Smith and Alex Jennings, never of whom come close to breaking a sweat – they have both played this archetype many times before), a nihilistic drunk (Caleb Landry Jones) and a suave American (Christopher Abbot).
Writer-director John Michael McDonagh (not to be confused with his brother Michael McDonagh of The Banshees of Inisherin fame), builds a convincing world here, and Fiennes and Chastain are so skilled that we learn the true nature of their relationship within the first five minutes, but ultimately, The Forgiven is an empty film. Not every film need have a message or even a purpose, but in the absence of either of those things, it must have a beating heart at its core. The Forgiven too often feels cold and clinical. The characters are a posh caricature of the aristocracy. It’s not a boring film, and McDonagh’s script (adapted from Lawrence Osborne’s novel) is often sharp and funny, but I also left The Unforgiven feeling strangely unsatisfied.
If you want to see rich people suffer on screen, there are currently a myriad of options available to you. This isn’t the one I would choose.