Written by Allan Loeb and directed by Susanne Bier, Things We Lost in the Fire centers on Audrey Burke (Halle Berry), who, after her husband Brian (David Duchovny) dies unexpectedly, develops and nurtures a symbiotic relationship of need and guilt with an old childhood friend of Brian’s, a recovering drug addict named Jerry Sunborne (Benico Del Toro).
For reasons even she can’t fully articulate, Audrey invites Jerry to
move out of the flophouse in which he’s staying, and come live with she
and her two children. Still wounded by their dad’s sudden departure,
10-year-old Harper (Alexis Llewellyn) and 6-year-old Dory (Micah Berry)
latch onto Jerry, and he to them. Jerry even gets help and a job offer
from one of Brian’s friends (John Carroll Lynch), and strikes up a
casual acquaintanceship with a fellow recovering addict (Alison Lohman)
with whom he crosses paths in a 12-step meeting. And then… other
stuff happens — big, yes, but mostly small. That logline suffices,
since Things We Lost in the Fire is chiefly about coming back to life after loss, and the unlikely blooms that develop after fields have been burned low.
It sounds weird, I realize, but one tangential, if esoteric, way to analyze/praise Things We Lost in the Fire is to say that it feels like an adaptation of one of Bier’s superlative Danish films (Family Matters, Open Hearts, Brothers, After the Wedding).
It’s a movie that has the same intimacy and disarming honesty as much
of her previous work, and that’s how easy and form-fitting the union of
material and helmer feels.
The fractured structure of the film
works to its advantage in that we don’t see “user Jerry” early in the
movie; when he inevitably backslides (this is what addicts do, after
all), it’s almost more of a shock than it should be. There’s not much here narratively that’s formally shocking,
though it is intriguing to witness the movie indulge Audrey’s
foregrounded resentment and anger toward Jerry to the hearty degree
that it does. This is a bit of a change-up from the films of weepy,
lean-on-me reconciliation that we’ve come to expect from Hollywood, and
something I appreciated even if I found the character of Audrey still a
bit of a cipher. Chiefly, though, Bier has the great benefit of Del Toro, whose eyes convey the force of an inner turmoil.
There’s a whole other off-screen story in those eyes, and Jerry’s tale,
while an uncomplicated one (a smart guy who dabbled in drugs and
quickly got in over his head), is what gives this movie its pull. We
witness how fragile and slippery the nature of recovery truly is, as
well as how helping others heals ourselves.
Things We Lost in the Fire
comes to Blu-ray presented in superb 1080p high definition, in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen
with a crisp English language
5.1 Dolby TrueHD audio track. Other audio options includes French and
Spanish language 5.1
Dolby digital surround sound tracks; optional English SDH, French,
Spanish and Portuguese subtitles are also included. Imported from its previous DVD release, the bonus material kicks off with a collection of seven deleted scenes, running about nine-and-a-half minutes in total. Most are understandable snips, but one big sequence
feels like it should’ve been left in — a scene where Audrey gives
Jerry a cabinet she was working on before her husband’s death, and
confesses an argument in which she believed him to have stolen money
out of her car. The only other supplemental feature is a 20-minute, thematically-oriented featurette about the movie with interview snippets from all of its principal players,
including Berry, Duchovny, Del Toro and Bier, as well as writer Loeb
and producers Sam Mercer and Sam Mendes. There are plenty of insights
and interesting tidbits herein (Berry talks about trying to find
“different levels of shock” for her character, for instance, which I’d argue that
perhaps she doesn’t fully do), but the Achilles heel of this piece is that
too many clips from the movie — far more than necessary for
illustrative purposes — are interspersed between the interviews,
ruining any delicate sense of flow or momentum. Also included is a high-definition version of the movie’s theatrical trailer, and 12 minutes of previews for other Paramount titles, including Margot at the Wedding, Into the Wild, Beowulf and The Kite Runner. To purchase the Blu-ray via
Amazon, click here. B+ (Movie) B (Disc)