Emotional Arithmatic

Directed by: Paolo Barzman
Starring: Susan Sarandon, Christopher Plummer, Gabriel Byrne

How do you escape your past when it drives you to madness? Melanie Winters (Sarandon) is struggling with her life as she copes with the imprint of her devastating childhood. When she was a young girl, her parents disappeared and she was imprisoned at Drancy, a French internment camp that served as a layover to Auschwitz and other Nazi-operated death camps during WWII. Now, as a mature woman mired in a failing marriage, she prepares for the arrival of her childhood saviour, Jakob Bronski, who unexpectedly brings another guest from her dark past. This Canadian film teeters between the past and the present, a fumbling script delivered by brilliant actors, and characters that are either numbingly dreary or artfully compelling. It explores the damage done both firsthand and by proxy to victims of war. Though Emotional Arithmetic avoids the much-feared preachy message, it does wear with its quaint sensibilities and taut emotional confrontations.