LOUDER THAN BOMBS

War photographer Isabelle Reed is killed in a road accident. Two years later, during a retrospective of her work, her husband and two sons, still in mourning, are confronted with the disturbing possibility that Isabelle committed suicide. After Oslo, 31 août, Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier went to New York to film the slow-motion disintegration of a family already devastated by the loss of a wife and mother. The three survivors’ days are filled with silent suffering, and secrets, illusions and lies are exposed as the story unfolds, partly through flashbacks. Taking a cerebral approach, Louder Than Bombs — a reference to the classic Smiths compilation — avoids melodrama by opting for nuance and subtlety. Strangely, the film recalls Gus Van Sant’s Elephant when the camera captures the teenage boy’s distress. In addition to filming in English for the first time, Trier assembled an international cast starring Gabriel Byrne, Isabelle Huppert and Jesse Eisenberg, who shine in a family drama haunted by the wounds of the past and the despondency of mourning.