A Real Pain is now showing in cinemas nationwide.
How one deals with pain has been a common theme in cinema since the silent picture days. Yet a greater focus on generational trauma has only been observed more recently, from Disney films like Encanto to Best Picture winners like Everything Everywhere All At Once. Jesse Eisenberg’s sophomore directorial effort, A Real Pain, takes an interesting angle on this theme through the use of comparison. Even if one generation’s trauma is significantly bigger, that doesn’t necessarily invalidate the other. The fact that the film understands this is what makes it so tender and heartfelt.
Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin of Succession play Jewish cousins David and Benji Kaplan. As children, they were extremely close, possibly a result of them only being born three weeks apart, yet as adults, they couldn’t be more different. David is a highly strung workaholic family man, while Benji is aimless and eccentric to a fault. Following their grandmother’s death, the pair decide to fly to Poland and partake in a group tour in and around Warsaw. Their grandmother migrated to America after surviving the Holocaust, thus the cousins see this trip as their chance to reconnect with their heritage.
It’s a simple but powerful premise. The naturally inquisitive among us ponder where we came from and what previous generations had to endure. Given the tremendous horrors of the Holocaust, in which the Nazis systematically murdered six million Jews, this must weigh heavily on the conscience of many whose parents and grandparents experienced such evil. One of the film’s tensest scenes sees the tour group travelling first class on a train, resulting in an outburst from Benji, where he laments the harrowing irony of riding in luxury while, not even a century ago, their ancestors were being led to slaughter via the same transportation means. You can’t help but reflect on this darkness.
The film gives this bleak subject matter the respect it deserves, with David and Benji reflecting on their fond memories of their grandmother. Although we never see her, we get a clear picture through their discussions – a firm but fair woman who was unafraid to speak her mind. Yet this was who she was after surviving the worst ordeal of her life, trauma so gargantuan that she never told a soul about what she experienced. In the film’s best scene, the cousins visit a concentration camp with their group, finally getting a real sense of what their grandmother endured. The soundtrack, consisting of piano pieces by 19th-century virtuoso Frederic Chopin, is omitted entirely from this sequence. The scenes are photographed matter-of-factly, the only dialogue being Will Sharpe’s tour guide explaining in short but destabilising sentences what occurred, letting the imaginations of the characters and the audience fill the gaps.
As distressing as this scene is, the power of A Real Pain is how the unspoken trauma of generations gone by feeds into the distress of the main characters. Benji describes David as “an awesome guy stuck in the body of someone always running late”. He’s constantly stressing about work and family, something that Benji sees as a betrayal given that, as a child, David wore his heart on his sleeve. Benji is a fascinating character – from scene to scene, we’re either charmed by him or want to punch him with no in-betweens. But his aimlessness generates compassion.
Benji clearly has severe mental health issues, given his mood swings and tendency to focus on the extreme positives and negatives of life, the latter leading to many justifiable but unsolicited anti-wealth rants. As the characters peer into the past, bearing some form of witness to their grandmother’s unfathomable resilience, they find themselves wondering how their struggles compare to hers. Do they have any right to complain about their lives, or are different forms of pain equally valid, regardless of their size or shape?
This heterotopic idea dominates much of A Real Pain, giving it nuance, gravitas and wells of empathy as it explores the idiosyncrasies of grief and suffering. The film possesses a visually flat look, capturing Polish architecture and culture with stagnant photography that sometimes feels a bit too mundane. Yet the characters are always given space to process, with mid and long shots dominating much of the film’s aesthetic. As the cousins and their companions navigate the complexities of the present and the horrors of the past, questions of identity, culture and how different generations process their own unique hardships leave us with much to ponder both during and after the film.
Despite the heavy thematic substance, a jovial tone and two lively performances keep this feature earnest and engaging. The film is often funny, using the direct contrasts of David and Benji’s personalities to generate conflict and humour alike, with perhaps the funniest scene being their childish efforts to dodge a train conductor. Eisenberg, on top of his sensitive direction, plays the comedic straight-man well, his barely suppressed bafflement and nerves being equal parts amusing and heartbreaking given the scene. Kieran Culkin has a uniquely manic energy about him, something that perhaps made his work in Succession so popular. He brings that same energy to the role of Benji yet layers him with tragedy. This man is loud, chaotic and sometimes obnoxious, yet there is still a sense of restraint about him – that he’s still keeping much of himself subdued despite appearances. It’s a remarkable performance that deserves the awards buzz it’s garnering.
Movies like A Real Pain are special not because they’re especially big or loud but because they actualise people’s feelings and experiences with intimacy and understanding. This could’ve easily been another buddy road trip comedy, but Eisenberg and team explore and champion the complicated emotions and themes that its premise gives rise to. This not only makes it a great film but also a life-affirming one that will leave many in the audience teary-eyed, whether from laughter, poignancy, or both.
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