THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN (Felix Van Groeningen). 111 minutes. Subtitled. Opens Friday (November 8). For venues and times, see listings. Rating: NNNN
The Broken Circle Breakdown is a curious combination of uplifting musical numbers and unapologetic misery porn. It charts the progress of a musical Belgian couple’s relationship through dizzying highs and harrowing lows. Imagine Lars von Trier deciding to remake Once.
Didier (Johan Heldenbergh, who wrote the play on which the film is based) plays banjo in a bluegrass band and loves the promise of American culture. Elise (Veerle Baetens) is a tattoo artist with a golden voice. They fall into bed, then into a relationship. She joins the band, they get married and have a daughter. And it all goes to hell.
This is the kind of movie that opens with a reverent performance of the classic Will The Circle Be Unbroken, the better to indicate that, no, it probably won’t be. But though the narrative’s trajectory is fairly obvious, there’s no sense of melodrama or self-indulgence in the performances.
Heldenbergh and Baetens are both fantastic, pushing themselves to uncomfortable places and letting us understand when they make terrible choices. A scene where Didier breaks down onstage is excruciating, as is Elise’s different but equally understandable loss of control during a hospital sequence.
It’s heavy going – really, seriously heavy – but worth it.
