The Meteor (2013)

Directed by: François Delisle
Country: Canada

Movie Review: “The Meteor” is a Canadian dialogue-free drama that uses solely voice-overs to express the thoughts and feelings of its characters, all part of the same broken family. Like reading a book with melancholic images passing in front of our eyes, François Delisle’s fifth feature succeeds in its elegiac tones by creating a whole story without interaction. 40 year-old Pierre is arrested and condemned to 14 years in prison for the murder of a woman, in a desperate act related with drugs. This fact motivated a great shake and suffering in his direct relatives, including his father who died shortly after. His old and tired mother, in turn, recalls the happy childhood of his son, while prepare herself for another visit to prison, the only occasion that her lone son get out of his cell. Death frequently comes to her head, boosted by the news of her older sister’s cancer, and with a sad assurance that she won’t be with her son again in the outside world. Pierre’s ex-wife, Suzanne, explains her gradual, prolonged, and deeply felt separation, regretting not to have children of him, but admitting to be totally ready for a new life. We also have the opportunity to know what’s in Pierre’s head. Every single day, he regrets what he did and revives the trauma of being raped by a cellmate in the night he arrived. Words of anguish, regret, and painful resignation echo constantly, in a depressing film that didn’t become limitative by its unusual communication option, which exposes openly the deplorable psychological state of its protagonists.