Norwegian cinematographer and director Erik Poppe's fourth feature film, A Thousand Times Goodnight, is inspired by his personal experiences as a war photographer, and this is his first English-language film.
Shot on locations in Morocco, Ireland, Kenya and Afghanistan, it spins the tale of Rebecca (J uliette Binoche), a famous war photographer who lives in Ireland with her husband, Marcus (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), a marine biologist, and their two daughters, Steph (Lauryn Canny) and Lisa (Adrianna Cramer Curtis).
As you'd expect, being a war-photographer, Rebecca's life is constantly endangered, and her everlasting commitment to show the world what’s happening to the poor, the war victims and their grieving makes her job all the more dangerous.
After an assignment gone awry in Kabul, Afghanistan, where she photographed female suicide bombers, Rebecca comes back home with more than a couple of injuries. Rightfully so, Marcus feels he can’t take it any longer. It’s not only a matter of her safety — she's also neglecting her maternal duties.
What is Rebecca to do? Will she choose family over work? Such a decision is surely bound to tear her apart.
When a socially and politically conscious feature is filled with overwhelmingly sentimental incidental music, pristine and glossy cinematography, one-dimensional characters, trite shocking imagery, enlightened verbal exchanges on the nature of power and war, and a downright didactic gaze from beginning to end, you are entitled to fear the worst. Let alone a melodramatic sugarcoat to touch very undemanding viewers when showing the pain of others.
So let's just say it: A Thousand Times Goodnight is one dumb movie. It may be annoying to some, but I just found it bluntly stupid.
It's only fair to point out that Juliette Binoche doesn’t do a bad job as the heroic photographer, but there’s only so much an actor can do when a character is so predictably overworked. After all, actors are not miracle workers. As for the remaining actors’ performances, they are simply forgettable, just like their characters.
As is the case with the recently released Trash, by Stephen Daldry, A Thousand Times Goodnight addresses excruciatingly complex issues in such a reductionist way that you cannot but feel a little insulted. That is, if your intention was to take it seriously.
