Supernova, 2020.
Directed by Harry Macqueen.
Starring Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci.
SYNOPSIS:
Sam and Tusker are traveling across England in their old RV to visit friends, family, and places from their past. Since Tusker was diagnosed with dementia two years ago, their time together is the most important thing they have.
In these times of palpable global anxiety, nobody could be blamed for turning the other way from movies about death and decay, though to label Harry Macqueen’s (Hinterland) sophomore feature a mere “illness movie” is to gloss over its refreshingly low-key, unassuming approach – not to mention its pair of mesmerising central performances.
Sam (Colin Firth) and Tusker’s (Stanley Tucci) 20 years of life together has been disrupted by Tusker’s diagnosis with early onset dementia. In an attempt to take full advantage of their remaining time together, the pair embark on a road trip across England in a camper van, hoping to create as many memories as possible – ones which Tusker, inevitably, is destined to forget.
Most of us (hopefully) won’t ever have to live through the pain of charting our own path off the mortal plane, but it’s one captured with lived-in anguish, black humour, and most of all dignity in this deeply moving chamber piece.
The first time we see the duo, they’re busy sniping pithily yet playfully at one another, which belies the fact they’re both dealing with a heft of inner turmoil. This is made abundantly clear minutes later when Tusker’s ailing memory causes him to take leave without notifying Sam.
It’s evident soon enough that Tusker is tired of the rigours of living, and makes a pivotal decision to no longer take the pills intended to slow his deterioration, driving an obvious wedge between himself and Sam. This is just one of the major hurdles the couple faces throughout Tusker’s journey, beautifully highlighting that a terminal diagnosis affects so much more than the single person directly afflicted.
McQueen’s formally stripped back direction suits the material perfectly, which feels rather like a play at times, with so much of it simply comprised of Firth and Tucci dialoguing inside a single room. Truly, it is an unglamorous affair, at one point amusingly depicting the lovers camped out in a Spar carpark of all things – but let’s be honest, dementia is anything but glamorous.
Nevertheless, McQueen’s film does achieve beauty not only through its heartbreakingly anguished dialogue – which feels subtly heightened but never enough to diminish the emotional truth – but also the gorgeous, sweeping shots of the British countryside, photographed by veteran, Oscar-winning DP Dick Pope, and backed by Keaton Henson’s exquisite string-powered score.
But Supernova is an actor’s movie through and through, and one which curiously – and sensibly – saw Firth and Tucci swap their original roles before shooting started. Firth is a forlorn pillar of quiet melancholy throughout, well aware his lover is slipping away faster than he can bear, and unable to do anything about it.
The desperation to try and be there in every moment, an impossibility for sure, is palpable, with Firth powerfully conveying the isolation which comes with being partnered to someone who wishes to disappear before they become a shadow of themselves.
Tucci, in a sure career-best performance, is a sardonic delight in the pic’s earlier passages, pitch perfect as a man frustrated, even bored with the illness, more than he is upset that he’s nearing the end of his cognizant life. The result is a stirring portrait of courage amid the most dire diagnosis, of a man seeking a fitting finale to his life as the road runs out.
The chemistry between the two is unsurprisingly ferocious, both in its wittier, happier moments and, in its more downcast second half, as they weather increasingly intense disputes about what the remainder of their love story is to be.
Supernova doesn’t try to do anything too ambitious narratively or formally, but tells a straight-forward story of love and loss with searing emotional authenticity and some well-spiced doses of gallows humour. The later turns of story won’t be too surprising to many, but the film handles them with the necessary gravitas without devolving into slushy, saccharine melodrama.
Even so, the final half-hour is so thoroughly chock with heart-wrenchingly well-observed scenes that few are likely to be left un-moved by the time the end credits roll. Conventional on the surface but uncommonly affecting in approach, Supernova is a low-key, painfully human drama elevated by typically excellent performances from Colin Firth and a never-better Stanley Tucci.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Shaun Munro – Follow me on Twitter for more film rambling.
