'Troubled Water', directed by Erik Poppe, is a movie filled with emotions and honesty. We meet Jan Thomas, who is getting out of jail and trying to adapt to the life outside the bars. Accused for kidnapping and killing a young boy, Jan Thomas is trying to hide his past. It catches up to him when Agnes, the mother of the boy that was killed, shows up in the church where Jan Thomas is working. Jan Thomas plays the organ in the church, and develops a close relationship to the pastor, Anna, and her son. Throughout the first half of the movie we follow Jan Thomas and see his flashbacks from the incident where the boy was killed. However, half way through the movie there is a change and we start fallowing Agnes, who has been an invisible shadow in Jan Thomas' narrative.
By presenting two sides of the same story Poppe makes it hard for the viewer to pick sides. This is easy to relate to; our sympathy shifts after hearing a different side of a story. As a viewer, one gets the feeling of being a judge in a courtroom with two skilled lawyers presenting their clients' stories. This type of a split narrative is original; however, extremely hard to do effectively. Poppe does only a decent job in my opinion; it is not that we get the story twice, but the fact that he builds up to a climax and then breaks it up by changing the main character and start the story from the beginning, which makes the audience lose focus. When the story catches up again and the two stories are combined, a part of the tension that was build up is gone.
The main theme in 'Troubled Water' is forgiveness and relationships. Agnes needs Jan Thomas to tell her what actually happened with her son in order to forgive him, and Jan Thomas is desperately seeking forgiveness in order to move on in his life. The crime committed is very extreme, yet so real, which, combined with great acting, creates the feeling that you are standing in both Jan Thomas's and Agnes' shoes. There are many other relationships portrayed in this movie. The most interesting one is probably between Jan Thomas and the pastor's son, Jens. When they meet, Jens is wearing an almost identical shirt as the boy that was killed. Jan Thomas is scared in the beginning, the boy reminds him of the boy that died, but he learns to love Jens and overcomes his fear.
Poppe has a unique way of using camera angles and music in order to emphasize and strengthen expressions and emotions. In this movie, Jan Thomas uses the organ to express emotions. Poppe is also paralleling the emotions created through the music with close-up on his expressions of frustration and sadness while playing. These types of effects are very useful in this movie especially because of the type of emotions that needs to be portrayed in a movie that involves the murder of a child.
The title, 'Troubled Water', is an interesting pick. Throughout the movie we see scenes that involves water. The young boy is killed in the water, Jan Thomas is beaten up in jail in water, Agnes escapes reality by swimming in the pool at the school she works at, and the holy water in the church, are examples of the use of water that might be a reflection of the title. This symbolizes how the young boy died and should indirectly remind the viewer of the terrible thing that happened. A direct translation from the original title would have been 'The Invisible' which focuses on a totally different aspect of the movie. It is meant to focus on Agnes' invisibility in Jan Thomas' narrative. These are both important details to the movie and by publishing the movie in a different language, Poppe allowed himself to make the audience clearly aware of both.
Although Poppe is moving into dangerous territory by directing a split narrative, he does it well. The creativeness of music, camera angles, and light used in this movie among with the phenomenal acting made this whole narrative extremely real. The fact that the scenes are filmed close to where I live made this movie stick in my thoughts for a long time after watching it. It is definitely not necessary to be from any of the Nordic countries to enjoy this movie. The unthinkable fear of losing a child and the thought of forgiving, or be forgiven for the crime of killing an innocent boy will catch the attention of anyone.
By presenting two sides of the same story Poppe makes it hard for the viewer to pick sides. This is easy to relate to; our sympathy shifts after hearing a different side of a story. As a viewer, one gets the feeling of being a judge in a courtroom with two skilled lawyers presenting their clients' stories. This type of a split narrative is original; however, extremely hard to do effectively. Poppe does only a decent job in my opinion; it is not that we get the story twice, but the fact that he builds up to a climax and then breaks it up by changing the main character and start the story from the beginning, which makes the audience lose focus. When the story catches up again and the two stories are combined, a part of the tension that was build up is gone.
The main theme in 'Troubled Water' is forgiveness and relationships. Agnes needs Jan Thomas to tell her what actually happened with her son in order to forgive him, and Jan Thomas is desperately seeking forgiveness in order to move on in his life. The crime committed is very extreme, yet so real, which, combined with great acting, creates the feeling that you are standing in both Jan Thomas's and Agnes' shoes. There are many other relationships portrayed in this movie. The most interesting one is probably between Jan Thomas and the pastor's son, Jens. When they meet, Jens is wearing an almost identical shirt as the boy that was killed. Jan Thomas is scared in the beginning, the boy reminds him of the boy that died, but he learns to love Jens and overcomes his fear.
Poppe has a unique way of using camera angles and music in order to emphasize and strengthen expressions and emotions. In this movie, Jan Thomas uses the organ to express emotions. Poppe is also paralleling the emotions created through the music with close-up on his expressions of frustration and sadness while playing. These types of effects are very useful in this movie especially because of the type of emotions that needs to be portrayed in a movie that involves the murder of a child.
The title, 'Troubled Water', is an interesting pick. Throughout the movie we see scenes that involves water. The young boy is killed in the water, Jan Thomas is beaten up in jail in water, Agnes escapes reality by swimming in the pool at the school she works at, and the holy water in the church, are examples of the use of water that might be a reflection of the title. This symbolizes how the young boy died and should indirectly remind the viewer of the terrible thing that happened. A direct translation from the original title would have been 'The Invisible' which focuses on a totally different aspect of the movie. It is meant to focus on Agnes' invisibility in Jan Thomas' narrative. These are both important details to the movie and by publishing the movie in a different language, Poppe allowed himself to make the audience clearly aware of both.
Although Poppe is moving into dangerous territory by directing a split narrative, he does it well. The creativeness of music, camera angles, and light used in this movie among with the phenomenal acting made this whole narrative extremely real. The fact that the scenes are filmed close to where I live made this movie stick in my thoughts for a long time after watching it. It is definitely not necessary to be from any of the Nordic countries to enjoy this movie. The unthinkable fear of losing a child and the thought of forgiving, or be forgiven for the crime of killing an innocent boy will catch the attention of anyone.