The Forgvien (2022)

John Michael McDonagh continues in the same vein as his previous work for his third directorial feature. His previous efforts, The Guard (2011) and Calvary (2014) both fused comedy and drama to startling effect, managing to have you laughing one minute and shocked into silence the next. Calvary especially, dealt with some heavy themes but retained a through line of black comedy despite its bleak image. McDonagh has adapted Lawrence Osbourne’s 2012 novel of the same name to screen here, and regardless of some pretty iffy reviews has once again achieved the tricky balance of comedy and drama to provide the audience with a terrific film. Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain are a wealthy couple en route to Morocco to attend a lavish party in the middle of the desert. Fiennes’ David has been drinking all day (he describes himself early on as a ‘functioning alcoholic’) and he’s at the wheel when he hits a young Moroccan boy who is by the side of a desert road selling fossils, killing him. Once they reach the villa, with the child’s body, their host Richard (a fantastic Matt Smith) calls the local police and ensures that everything will be smoothed over. The dead boys’ father shows up the next day and insists that David accompany him to their village to bury the boy. The film splits at this point as we switch between following David into the wilderness and watching his wife Jo enjoy the rest of the party filled weekend at the outrageous villa owned by Richard, that comes with plenty of servants, all of them local. The Forgiven is an odd film to classify, but I have to say that I laughed consistently throughout at least two thirds of the film. It’s not an outright comedy by any means; indeed McDonagh’s script is full of offensive slurs, be they racist, homophobic or misogynistic, but they’re all produced by the mouths of simply appalling people, and McDonagh makes sure that we’re laughing at them as much as enjoying the ludicrousness of everything that’s happening. The film throws two completely different cultures together: one of them oozing debauchery for the duration, and the other having to clean up after them. David’s journey at least gives us (and indeed him) an insight into how the other half live so to speak, and there is a redemptive journey of sorts for him. If you’re easily offended and think words are violence, don’t worry, it’s not real, it is just a movie, and there is a reason behind all the abysmal behaviour. The performances are really terrific across the board, and Chastain’s Jo goes the other way to David in terms of cultural enlightenment; but the insane wealth and hideous lack of care or awareness of anything beyond her immediate satisfaction is as infectious to watch as it is hateful to experience. The Forgiven is more surface than depth, but the knowing hand that McDonagh offers to the audience over exactly what we’re watching makes it one of best films of 2022 for me. 8.1/10