The Sisters Brothers Directed by Jacques Audiard
The Sisters Brothers
Directed by Jacques Audiard
Starrings: John C. Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix, Jake Gyllenhaal, Riz Ahmed, Rebecca Root, Allison Tolman, Rutger Hauer, Carol Kane, Patrice Cossonneau, Zac Abbott, Ian Reddington, Aldo Maland, Theo Exarchopoulos, Sean Duggan, Raymond Waring, Hugo Dillon, Lexie Benbow-Hart.
Year: 2018
Country: France, Spain, Romania, USA, Belgium
Author Review: Roberto Matteucci
Click Here for Italian Version
The huge space is the symbol of freedom. In the immense territories, a solitary man always rides, he goes across them with modesty despite an ethical superiority. This man is the hero, the myth, the anarchist, the nihilist, he represents the moral law in these infinities. There, the justice is not efficient for the numerous, powerful and merciless enemies. It is the west, unique, immortal, legendary. The story of western survives on itself, illustrates the epic; he created, like anOuroboros, an imperishable legend.
"All Hollywood filmmakers or almost, American or by adoption, have chosen or accepted to shoot westerns, which is the oldest and the youngest genre still despite many signs, so far always denied, of a next agony, this is the test: western constitutes the series of interpretations that an art, the American cinema, gives of its local and national history, and, every day more, of its own nature and its relationship with tradition " (1)
The director Jacques Audiard is not American, but he is by adoption in this case. He accepted to shoot a western. Born in Paris, award-winning, he only directed national movies in the French language. At the 75th Venice Film Festival, he presented the The Sisters Brothers, in English with American actors.
It is a western of new generation, intimate and hyper-realistic. He has intact the peculiarities of the genre and maintains intact the dream of the individualist and anarchist hero in a fierce world.
We are in 1850 in Oregon. It is night, there are a grassland, a voice and gunfires. A farm is burning, outside, two men watch the fire. From the house some persons run out scared, they shoot him: "How many people did we kill?"
The ruthless killers are the Sisters brothers - "We're the Sisters brothers. S-I-S-T-E-R-S, like sisters " - Eli Sisters, the elder one, played by John C. Reilly and Charlie Sisters the younger one, acted by Joaquin Phoenix. Their job is to hunt fugitives.
Upon returning, the Commodore sends them in pursuit of a new researcher: Herman Warm. He is a smart chemist, he invented a technique to purify gold in a river. It is the legendary gold hunt. Another agent Morris reaches him before them.
After many troubles, the four will set together in company in the search for gold:
“Since we had to find an opposition between the two brothers, one of the big tasks of the adaptation was the development of the characters Warm (Riz Ahmed) and Morris (Jake Gyllenhaal), the idealist and the dandy.” (2)
The consequence was dramatic, the Sisters were hunters, now they are prey. It begins a long and dangerous escape for salvation.
The authors emphasize several elements.
The western:
“I don’t have a knowledgeable relationship with the genre.” … “In dramatic terms, Westerns are very linear and epic, there’s no suspense. In my work to date I think I have been drawn to tighter stories, to screenplays that are more “efficient”. (2)
The film has these personal characteristics, mixed by the immortal and indestructible western background.
The screenplay is "efficient" especially in the description of the human relationship between the brothers; there are many memorable fraternal battles. There are physical clashes but, the worst and, at the same time, most entertaining are the dialectical ones. The dialogues are brilliant:
“The thing that makes The Sisters Brothers different is that this mythology boils down to the conversations between two brothers.” (2)
The worth of the author is to focus on the intimate feeling between brothers up to show something hidden in the Sisters. They have a secret and a hidden desire.
The scenes of confrontation between the two couples, united in a bizarre but risky and imprudent business cohabitation, are many.
For example, the author ironically points out on a hygiene product unknown in 1850 in Oregon: the toothbrush.
Charlie is rough, vulgar but he has good heart. He has a naiveness attitude, subjugated by his younger brother. Inside he has an emotional feeling more imaginary than real. He has a distant and, perhaps, invented memory: he always holds a scarf given to him by a teacher known years ago, secretly sniffs it.
For love he bought a toothbrush, he does not have any idea how to use it, it is funny when he tries it.
Yet, one morning in the river camp, Charlie wakes up to brush his teeth. On the other bank, there is Warm. Unlike Charlie, he is a refined dandy. He too has a toothbrush in his hand, but he is well aware of the use.
The worse events happened in the hell of the cowboys of the province: San Francisco. A boundless, confused city: "This is Babylon". The brothers are attracted as children from the metropolis, full of delightful adult games. In San Francisco the deep contradictions will erupt.
The structure is classic: grassland, spaces, horses, villains, enemies, bandits, shootings.
The director describes the iron tone, above all in the dialogues and then in the sarcastic description of some objects just appeared in the great west. Unfamiliar in 1850, we will wait next century for common using.
The toothbrush is the first, later there is the water closet in a luxury hotel in San Francisco.
The aspect is pleasant, the brothers feed the western dream. There is also a tragic, painful tone; for the many deaths but especially for the dark secret in their past.
Spoiler Alert! The following text contains spoilers for The Sisters Brothers
Eli is often aggressive and tough, he has something unconfessed: he killed his father to defend his family from his violence. Charlie, more nostalgic, has a regret, a worry. He was the older brother, so he would have to kill him.
Audiard explains:
“This is a pre-Freud, pre-analytical Western. Two brothers talk and talk and end up saying things they never said before. Normally that should take place in a drawing room, here it takes place on horseback. The Sisters brothers are incorrigible chatterboxes but also ruthless killers, and the charm of the novel lies in this unexpected mix between the two.” (2)
There is a further step. It is not just a "pre-Freud" story, because the film's ending is easier to understand if it is explained with Freud.
The brothers are like two Little Hans, Sigmund Freud in Analysis of a Phobia in a Five-year-old Boy:
"His affection had moved from his mother on to other objects of love, but at a time when there was a scarcity of these it returned to her, only to break down in a neurosis. It was not until this happened that it became evident to what a pitch of intensity his love for his mother had developed and through what vicissitudes it had passed." (3)
The Oedipus complex breaks out. The brothers, after many battles, they have the heart and the body wounded. Eli has even an amputated arm. After a long escape, many disappointments, physical and moral exhaustion. Although, they are mature men, they have a childlike attitude, so where can they return to when they have "scarcity of love objects" and after having killed their father?
Of course, they hide in their Mom! An affectionate woman, and although the time passed, welcomes them with open arms and feeds them, caring for them like children.
Despite the injuries, the afflictions, they feel happy inside the house, lying in their small beds: they are back in the womb.
Raymond Bellour, Il grande gioco in Il Western, fonti forme miti registi attori filmografia, a cura di Raymond Bellour, edizione italiana a cura di Gianni Volpi, Feltrinelli, prima edizione, ottobre 1973 (Translated by the author)
Sigmund Freud, Analysis of a Phobia in a Five-year-old Boy https://archive.org/stream/SigmundFreud/Sigmund%20Freud%20%5B1909%5D%20Analysis%20Of%20A%20Phobia%20In%20A%20Five-year-old%20Boy%20%28The%20Little%20Hans%20Case%20History%29%28James%20Strachey%20Translation%201955%29#page/n2/mode/2up