A movie that can be recommended to fans of “Memento,” the Danish picture “Reconstruction” plays a clever shell game. Just when you think you’ve figured it out, it re-writes itself.
For the first half-hour, we seem to be watching a normal movie. Against the sleek silver-gray of Copenhagen, two people court and spark. The man is Alex (Nikolai Lie Kaas), an ugly mug with a black trenchcoat and a smooth line.
The woman is Aimee (Maria Bonnevie), an elegant blonde. She is married, but she brings Alex into her home while the husband is away.
There are two other characters of importance. One is the husband, August (Krister Henriksson), a novelist. He’s much older the Aimee, and he senses he is losing his wife’s attention.
The other is Simone, Alex’s uncomplicated girlfriend. Simone and Aimee are played by the same actress, although they look quite different.
At the half-hour point, just as August discovers his wife’s infidelity, Alex finds his life suddenly turned inside out. To say more about this might ruin some of the mystery for fans of this kind of thing, so we’ll just leave it there.
If what’s going on is what I think is going on, director Christopher Boe is not the first person to try this gambit. It’s usually the turf of a literary trickster such as Jorge Luis Borges, although I think Woody Allen wrote a story with a similar idea once.
In any case, it’s ingeniously worked out, and the passions of the story contrast starkly with the color-drained Copenhagen locations. Aimee’s brilliant blond hair stands out like a lighthouse in this bleached world.
Boe leans on two familiar pieces of music Fred Astaire sings “Night and Day” under the opening and closing credits, and Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings” plays out against the confusion of the story.
By casting Maria Bonnevie in both female roles, Boe seems to be suggesting that Alex’s desire for a different woman is a kind of circular game. It has more to do with him than his object of desire.
Judging by his jerky treatment of Simone, Alex certainly deserves to be taught a lesson. Don’t worry: This movie makes him suffer.
“Reconstruction” HHH
Ingenious: Puzzler about a man falling in love with a married woman in Copenhagen – at which point his life takes a sudden and inexplicable turn for the worse. (In Danish, with English subtitles.)
Rated: Not rated; probably PG-13 for subject matter.
Now showing: Seven Gables.
“Reconstruction” HHH
Ingenious: Puzzler about a man falling in love with a married woman in Copenhagen – at which point his life takes a sudden turn for the worse. (In Danish, with English subtitles.)
Rated: Not rated; probably PG-13 for subject matter.
Now showing: Metro.
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