CLAIRE IN MOTION – Review

Review by Stephen Tronicek

There’s a lot of expectation going into a film that has a premise like Claire in Motion. Claire’s husband has disappeared after leaving for a survivalist trip out in the woods, and she has been left alone to care for their child. When starting this type of film, one finds expectations to be frustrating. This isn’t to insult. In fact, many of the films that come from this mold crackle with an unmatched sense of energy and passion. The premise here though almost requires a kind of exploitative use of character and story, some horrible thing having happened to the husband, and some wrenching but familiar catharsis that you can get anywhere from any somewhat shamelessly offensive exploitation flick living and dying on the violence and sex at its core. The nice surprise of Claire in Motion is that this is not what it holds in store for viewers. Instead, this is an alluring piece emotional drama, about a woman realizing too late that she has let her husband slip away from her.

What’s beautiful about Claire in Motion is that it never even slips over into the realm of exploitative or for that matter familiar. There’s an instinct to jump into this type of film with an assumption that the more tender care for drama that most lend to higher budgeted drama won’t be present, but co-writers/co-directors Annie J. Howell and Lisa Robinson, don’t let Claire in Motion feel the strains that many other dramas would. Their film comes off honest mainly because of Claire.

The camera almost never leaves Betsy Brandt (of Breaking Bad fame) as Claire, who cannot comprehend the loss of her husband, but also seems somewhat detached from the situation. This is the same dramatic wrinkle that made Pablo Larrain’s Jackie such a great film as well. Claire doesn’t seem utterly focussed on the actual loss of her husband, but rather the feelings of closure about the disappearance that she feels she deserves. That there has to be a reason for her spending all that time building a life, only for it to slowly fade out. This makes a more interesting character because we as the audience are allowed to at moments find her selfish, and infallible and therefore human. Claire being played by a true powerhouse of an actress helps every moment of the film. Brandt, was very good on Breaking Bad, perfectly encapsulating the more emotional yet clueless nature of her character, and the same is applied here. Brandt specializes in this type of character and she often has a quiet disparity behind her eyes. The film almost banks completely on her ability to keep the intensity of the ever calm pacing up with just her performance and she does a breathtaking job.

The film’s camerawork brings it up to a further level. The film’s use of heavy close-ups helps place us in Claire’s head. The subtleness of the camera lets the more troubling thematic aspects of the story sneak up on you, and very slowly allow the mood grow around the film.

The simple plotting and almost adamant focus on Claire does make it kind of impossible to ignore the fact that everything else are peripheral details, and that overall the ending doesn’t do too much thematically with what the film’s working with, but Brandt makes the ending work nicely as it becomes abundantly clear that there are no answers.

Claire in Motion is a complete opposite of the film that it seems. Instead, it rises above those expectations and becomes a subtle, uplifting little character piece, that in many ways show the ability of film to illustrate quiet depth through a strong grasp of character and craft.

4 out of 5

Breaking Glass Pictures will release CLAIRE IN MOTION in theaters and On Demand January 13.