“[A] subtle, contemplative exploration of memory and loss. . . [Moreau] is, of course, a goddess of French film, and here she gives a master class in how to be regal without vanity” (A.O. Scott, The New York Times).
Memory is a double-edged sword, and in Plus tard, tu comprendras, Amos Gitaï explores this truism in the most subtle and emotionally powerful manner. This most talented director has found a perfect subject for his increasingly spare and formal style, and the final result is masterly.
The film stars the venerable Jeanne Moreau in the role of Madame Gornick, an aged woman who prowls around her apartment listening to her television set. It is tuned to the Klaus Barbie trial of 1987, in which testimonies about arrests, incarcerations and deportations that took place during the Holocaust were recounted. Meanwhile, her son Victor is trying to assemble the bits and pieces of their family legacy through photographs, letters and memorabilia. The documents he discovers tell of the fate that befell his parents during the war, and he is quick to rush to judgment.
Plus tard, tu comprendras touches the deepest wellsprings of emotion, and by being suggestive rather than explicit, allows us all to share in its imaginative universe. This is perhaps the film Gitaï was born to make, a masterpiece of Holocaust memory that uses not one frame of footage from the disaster.
– Piers Handling, 2008 Toronto International Film Festival Programme Book
Rated 14A.
