The Forgiven – An Unlikable Character Drama

For whatever reason, a film comes along with all the right pieces on paper but it just doesn’t work out. That being said, this doesn’t necessarily make it a failure. The Forgiven, based on the novel of the same name, has a lot of great pieces behind it. In spite of those pieces, the film just doesn’t work out. While not for everyone, this character drama boasts an overambitious story for which it makes it hard to connect with. A slower pace worsened by a slightly too long running time along with some thin and unlikable characters will make it tough to watch for some. Nevertheless, its performances, including leads Jessica Chastain and Ralph Fiennes at least keep it watchable. Meanwhile, the beautiful Moroccan countryside making up the film’s setting is also beautiful to look at. In the end, the film will leave some wanting more and is not particularly memorable especially in the shadow of a far superior Jessica Chastain film which debuted alongside The Forgiven at TIFF 2021, The Eyes of Tammy Faye.

The Forgiven follows an affluent couple named Jo (Chastain) and David Henninger (Fiennes) who are part of a freak car accident on their way to a weekend house party in a remote villa within the Moroccan desert. Little did they know, this was only the beginning for them as the differences between the locals and Westerners couldn’t be more clear. The Henningers found themselves in the middle of that divide but the film unfortunately did very little with it. As far as the other house party guests were concerned, the incident was a mere annoyance or merely something else to hold over them. Perhaps to accentuate that class warfare contrast angle, those characters came off as pretentious and the absolute worst with their various petty chatter that essentially went nowhere while the local staff had no choice but to indulge them. Though none are truly worth any kind of redemption, David Henninger was the closest to receive any when he was forced to face the consequences of his actions. Whether or not he’d accept them was another question.

David’s arc over the course of the film was the most interesting part of The Forgiven. Hitting a Moroccan Muslim boy with a car was not exactly something that could be swept under the rug therefore he would have to atone. This took him on a journey where he needed to confront his own prejudices, facing a grieving family from a much different culture than his. However this was going to ultimately play out remained to be seen as both sides had to come to terms with what happened. Whether or not the boy’s family would be receptive or forgiving of David wasn’t necessarily a sure thing. There were some tense moments, however, any kind of character development was undercut by Jo’s much different side of the story that saw the bored wife live a life of excess outside of the grip of her husband. It was clear that Jo and David’s marriage had issues but maybe she wasn’t so different from him after all. At the end of the day, any kind of impact whatsoever is virtually nullified by the film’s thin and just lackluster characters. Looking down on everyone else, the film provides audiences little reason to care.

What keeps The Forgiven watchable was its performances. The film features an impressive cast starring the aforementioned Chastain and Fiennes as Jo and David Henninger as well as Smith, Caleb Landry Jones, and Christopher Abbott but it does next to nothing with them and is just there for the most part. Chastain could also be included in the latter group but her chemistry with Fiennes made for a decent dynamic. However, the film did next to nothing with that either. The one who fared the best was Fiennes who experienced the closest thing to an arc and was somewhat compelling to watch as his misinformed arrogance and naivety softened over the course of the film.

The Forgiven may appeal to fans of Chastain or Fiennes but is most likely to be forgotten more than anything else.

 still courtesy of VVS Films

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.