A Thousand Times Good Night (15)

Directed by Erik Poppe

4/5

There is a strong element of autobiography in Erik Poppe’s first English language film. The writer-director started his career as a photojournalist, working for Norwegian title Verdens Gang and then Reuters covering international conflicts.

He moved to making feature films in the 1990s and as this story unfolds, you can’t help but think the lead Rebecca (Juliette Binoche) is loosely based on his own life.

We meet Rebecca as she takes photographs of a woman having a bomb strapped to her in a conflict zone, follows her to the place selected for the atrocity and gets caught up in the blast.

She returns to recuperate at her home in Ireland, where we discover she has a gentle, loving husband and two daughters. None of the family are exactly thrilled by her work.

What unfolds is a careful, intriguing and wholly believable examination of how violence effects everyone its dark hand touches.

There are various other elements that rise to the fore — the idea of bearing witness is an important element. 

Rebecca feels she cannot turn a blind eye to what is happening in front of her despite knowing the effect it is having on herself and her family. A powerful piece.