Movie review: Things we Lost in the Fire
15A, general release, * * *
MEMORABLE: Halle Berry delivers a strong performance as grieving widow, Audrey Burke
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Berry is Audrey Burke, a suburban housewife and mother happily married to her realtor husband Brian (David Duchovny). Apart from being a whizz at property deals, Brian is kind and generous and frequently visits and gives money to his old friend Jerry Sunborne (Benicio Del Toro), a former lawyer who is now a hopeless heroin addict. One night, while returning from a visit to Jerry, Brian sees a man beating a woman in the street, and when he gets out to intervene he is shot dead.
Devastated, Audrey tries to comfort her two children but also blames Jerry -- if Brian had not gone to see him, he would not have died. The irrationality of this makes her feel guilty, however, and she asks him to move into a room in their garage. Jerry agrees, quits heroin and goes into a 12-step programme. The children grow fond of him, and Audrey begins to see what her husband saw in Jerry. But kicking his addiction is not that simple, and when he falls off the wagon the limits of Audrey's compassion are sorely tested.
An unshowy and well-written film, Things We Lost In The Fire is sustained by two very strong central performances. Berry is memorably moving as the confused and irrational Audrey, and allows herself to look almost ordinary. Most actors overdo the whole junkie thing, but Del Toro's Jerry is a model of restraint and quiet regret. Bier's direction may be fussy at times, but her use of natural light and hand-held cameras adds to the emotional integrity of the piece.
- Paul Whittington
