08/07/2024 - Tim Roth and Trine Dyrholm try to out-grieve each other in Désirée Nosbusch’s earnest drama that’s better suited for the stage

Grief attacks silently in the intimate drama Poison. It suffocates people, slowly and meticulously, until not much is left. But it also cruelly allows these folks to go on, even though they don’t even want to.

In Désirée Nosbusch’s movie, which has world-premiered at the Munich Film Festival, a couple lost a child. There was a tragic accident, a longer stint at the hospital, and then, well, silence. When they got back home, just the two of them, it was too much to bear – for him (Tim Roth), that is. He left one night, on New Year’s Eve, with two suitcases. She (Trine Dyrholm) remembers it well.

Years later, actually a decade or so, Edith and Lucas see each other again. They are both at the cemetery, and a new dance begins: there’s small talk, pleasantries, then literal blows. Director Nosbusch has good actors here, and they go for it, hard, exploring all of the stages that this ex-couple goes through in one single day. But it’s a lot, and it’s all very, very contained – so much so that it still screams “play”. That’s the problem, perhaps: it’s a film now, adapted from Lot Vekemans’ award-winning work. And something is missing.

Still, it’s a universal story, which is easy to understand and to feel. “You haven’t changed a bit,” he says. “Don’t look too closely then,” she answers bitterly. It’s obvious right from the start that any happy ending – if that even happens – won’t be an obvious one, mostly because this couple have done completely different things with their pain. He escaped, then tried to move on. She clings to the memory of the accident, even though it really can’t be good for her or for anyone else. But time allows one thing: it lets people talk. They can finally stop yelling.

This writer used to shrug at that cliché, “forgive not forget.” But Nosbusch seems to imply that there is value in it. Nobody else can understand what they went through, and probably nobody else even cares. But forgiving anything, be it cowardice or indifference, won’t be easy. There is still love here as well as hate, harsh words and a bottle of wine waiting in the car.

What’s easy, however, is Roth and Dyrholm’s chemistry. It’s just sad, watching them as a couple who clearly worked well at one time, who had fun, and who then lost each other to grief. They just couldn’t help each other – they didn’t know how. They still don’t, but during this unexpected encounter, they can offer each other a moment of understanding. Or even a laugh, because Lucas has taken up singing. In a choir. It saved him, he says. Apparently, grief is a funny thing, too.

Poison is a Luxembourgish-Dutch-German-UK production staged by Deal Productions, and co-produced by Phanta Vision, Studio Hamburg and ARTE. It is sold overseas by Hyde Park International.