Film Review: 'In Transit' Finds Motion, and Emotion, in Still Lives
Writer/star Alex Sarrigeorgiou and director Jaclyn Bethany paint a gorgeous cinematic portrait of desires awakened
(Alex Sarrigeorgiou. Photo provided.)
Two women meet in the dead of a small-town winter in rural Maine. They both face moments of major disruption in their lives: Lucy (Alex Sarrigeorgiou, who also wrote the screenplay) is a lifelong local who works at the same bar her late father did. Now her father’s business partner is contemplating selling the place, and the sense of stability Lucy has enjoyed at the bar, as well as at home with her longtime partner Tom (Francois Arnaud), is suddenly in flux.
Ilse (Jennifer Ehle), a successful painter, has come to town for a few weeks as a retreat from her usual big-city life. Looking to step out of the art world, and her own creative rut — and in her own place of personal turmoil as her marriage dissolves — Ilse takes note of Lucy’s natural, unaffected poise and asks her to be a model. As work on sketches, and then a painting, progresses, the two women forge a bond. But where will this lead them? Lucy may be composed in stillness, but with her life beginning to unravel she’s beginning to question the glide path she’s on. Meantime, Ilse, forever watchful, can’t stop looking at Lucy with an artist’s eye; circling her, pencil or paintbrush busily capturing light, form, and shadow, Ilse sees Lucy… but does she truly see her? Is true affection and friendship possible for those who use their lives and acquaintances as creative fuel, or is Ilse simply using Lucy’s simplicity of pose to feed her own evolving sensibilities? Can art equate with love? Can the tranquil nature of a serene and predictable domestic life like the one Lucy shares with Tom feed the growth of one’s soul and the creative impulses that are part of living fully? Is there more for Lucy, and for Ilse, and if so, what can they do to claim it?
(Alex Sarrigeorgiou and Francois Arnaud. Photo provided.)
Director Jaclyn Bethany brings grounded, understated performances out her cast and, working with Director of Photography Sam Tetro, frames each scene with a slightly different tone and look. Establishing shot of rural Maine are composed like still lifes and lingered over. (Many shots, for that matter, are given time to breathe and settle, providing a sense of space and pace, avoiding the hermetic, even claustrophic, feel that a less deliberately composed film of this sort, with only a handful of characters and few settings, might suffer.) The bar’s intimate confines are low-lit, with a close, nocturnal feel; Ilse’s makeshift studio, on the other hand, is a more expansive space, and is framed and lit that way. When Lucy and Tom are at home, the framing and lighting find a middle ground — cozy, but not as intimate as one might expect from a couple. The visuals alone tell us that Lucy and Tom, as affectionate as they are, are coasting; they share some momentary excitement over the idea of buying the bar themselves, and making it even more of a “family business,” as Ilse calls it, but it’s not at all clear that the two share much real passion or would make for fulfilling spouses and co-parents.
(Jennifer Ehle. Photo provided.)
Lucy, we come to realize, seems to be more perceptive than even Ilse; looking at the painting as it takes form, Lucy remarks on how the figure seems to be “remote,” its “gaze” obstructed by something nebulous and yet more substantial than mere distance. Is Lucy’s gaze at Ilse, exactly, or is she looking past the painter to begin imagining new possibilities? The more Lucy looks at her life and considers where she wants to go next, the more she seems to hunger for a less interior sort of movement and a more active role in shaping her existence.
Juampa writes the film’s musical score, which is spare and used so little that when music does come into a scene it possesses the power to startle, reminding us of the film’s major themes: Sometimes what seems like security is stagnation; sometimes what feels like a shock is life telling us to move forward, or move on. Even the most tranquil of us is, in a sense, forever “in transit,” after all.
(Alex Sarrigeorgiou. Photo provided.)
“In Transit” will had its world premiere August 17, as part of the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Watch for its arrival at a local cinema or streaming service; it’s worth seeking out and sitting with.