‘Brother and Sister’: Arnaud Desplechin Has Lost His Mojo [Cannes]

It used to be that an Arnaud Desplechin movie would excite cinephiles worldwide. After all, this is the man who gave us “Esther Kahn,” “Kings and Queen,” and “A Christmas Tale.” As it stands, Desplechin’s last truly good movie was 2015’s “My Golden Years,” then it all went to hell for him (despite French critics sticking by his side).

I’m talking about the trifecta trifles of “Ismael’s Ghosts,” “Deception,” “Oh Mercy,” and now “”Brother and Sister”. That’s makes it four god-awful movies in a row for the once reputable auteur.

Melodrama has gotten the best of Desplechin. It’s one thing for Almodovar to tackle melodrama in every movie, but the Spanish master’s films have intrigue and mystery to them. Desplechin has sucked out all the tension, joy and realism that used to make his films so enjoyable.

In a nutshell, “Brother and Sister” is the feud between two siblings (played Marion Cotillard and Melvil Poupaud). In the very first scene, Desplechin lays down the groundwork for the blood feud. After six years of estrangement, she’s a famous actress and he’s a failed author. Tragedy strikes, sis decides to attend the wake of her brother’s six-year-old son. Immediately upon seeing her enter the apartment, he loses it, in furious anger kicks her out and refuses to let her mourn his son’s death with him.

Clearly, something went very wrong between these two and through cluttered flashbacks, spread throughout the film, Desplechin tells us why. Sort of? The problem is you never truly get why two people could hate each other so much, no matter the reasons given.

In the middle of all that, their elderly parents are hospitalized after a car accident, which leads to both siblings having to confront each other at the hospital and, possibly, their own parents’ deaths.

The flashbacks are a major crux as you never get the motivations for the hate between these two protagonists. We’re always kept at a distance and instead given abrasiveness in the form of shouting matches. It all feels rather excessive instead of intimate, familiar instead of fresh.

So, what has happened to Desplechin? It’s quite clear that the strong screenwriting he was once known for has now formed into TV movie material. If you haven’t seen his misbegotten 2019 disaster “Oh, Mercy” then you may have missed what was essentially a French-produced CSI episode. It was bad. “Brother and Sister” plays like something out of network television, or even the theatrics of the soap-ish Telemundo. [D]