Luke McWilliams gives his review of the 2021 drama film, The Forgiven (MA15+), starring Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain.
In a grand villa set in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco, Richard Galloway (Matt Smith) and his partner, Dally Margolis (Caleb Landry Jones), host an extravagant dinner party for their wealthy, amoral ‘friends’. While arguing with his wife Jo (Jessica Chastain), the abrasive, alcoholic David Henninger (Ralph Fiennes) speeds through the desert at night to get to the party on time, fatally hitting a young Muslim fossil seller along the way.
Whereas Calvary (2014) had a Catholic priest as its moral centre, writer director John Michael McDonagh flips expectations by stocking his movie up-front with cruel, provocative, and horrendously entitled characters. These caricatures are not unlike those found in a nihilistic Bret Easton Ellis satire as they live their hedonistic lives in luxurious surrounds in stark contrast to the Indigenous population who works for, and lives around, the villa. David seems hell-bent on being as offensive as possible to everyone around him, coming close to finally pushing his long-suffering wife away, herself unshackled from the restraints of common morality.
In this cruel setting, David begrudgingly journeys deep into the heart of the desert to atone for the young life that he took. In David’s absence, the debaucherous shenanigans continue as if he is not missed at all. The villa hosts all manner of entertainment and seems worlds away from the barely inhabitable desert that surrounds it, and the inhabitants who disdain it, themselves not above the base want for revenge.
Verdict: An unsettling but effective morality tale. 3 stars.
Viewed at Dendy.
- Luke McWilliams, themovieclub.net
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