Hold Me Tight review: Vicky Krieps is reticent yet profound in this impressionistic French drama

Directed by Mathieu Amalric, Hold Me Tight is streaming on MUBI India

Vicky Krieps in Hold Me Tight

Hold Me Tight

STORY: Clarisse decides to leave home at the crack of dawn. While her husband and two children are still in bed, she takes a last look at the house, picks her basic belongings and pulls out. But does she actually leave?

REVIEW: Remember Alma from Daniel Day-Lewis’s historical 2017 masterpiece Phantom Thread? Yes, Vicky Krieps - who is often spoken about her subdued yet profound presence on screen - has put forth another brilliant performance in French writer-director Mathieu Amalric’s abstract drama film Hold Me Tight. Here you meet Vicky as Clarisse who, in a disturbed state of mind, decides to tip-toe out her own house in the wee hours of the day, as her husband Marc (Arieh Worthalter) and two young children - Lucie (Anne-Sophie Bowen-Chatet) and Paul (Sacha Ardilly) - are still fast asleep.

You might think the narrative thereafter will follow her, as we slowly unravel the mystery behind her abandoning her family and seemingly perfect home to hit the road in an old banger. But it won’t. Instead of addressing the obvious questions, as to what Clarisse is running away from or who she is going to; whether it is an act of betrayal or an attempt to gain freedom from familial bond, the plot proceeds in a layered, non-linear style. 

While you see her constantly travelling from one place to another, sleeping in a dormitory at one one moment and eating alone at a table in the next scene, there’s a recurrent sense of melancholy and pain attached to Clarisse’s demeanour. What might have given you the impression of an act of escapism in the beginning, fills you heart with empathy a little after you start watching the film. Inspired by Claudine Galéa’s play Je reviens de loin, Hold Me Tight is a story of loss, grief and trauma.

Nostalgia, notes of the piano and polaroid pictures are as much the central characters of the movie as the actors. Like her mother, Lucie is striving to become a pianist of repute. There are also moments where the director shows Marc and Paul as fragile, vulnerable beings who lament the absence of Clarisse in the house.

Even though Clarisse decides to walk away, she is still constantly there - snooping about in the courtyard, confronting Lucie during a performance. While Mathieu keeps away from dramatic plot twists and clear imagery, he relies on a rather unpredictable and rather erratic style of storytelling to narrate the predicament that the central character finds herself in. You are sure that Clarisse is lamenting, but whether or not she actually left the house or is it some bitter memories that she is dealing with is not untangled all at once.

Nevertheless, a reticent Vicky sparkles through the narrative, with Anne-Sophie as a close second in their respective characters. In an impressionistic and a restrained style of filmmaking, the director manages to weave a rather poignant and compelling personal story of attachment and agony. It’s quite stirring to see a devoted mother trying to stay close to her children by running away, while she must also move houses to move on in her life. 

VERDICT: Artsy and poignant in equal measure, Hold Me Tight is a requiem for a dream, as one struggles to come to terms with what fate throws their way. Mathieu adopts a cryptic tone, as he masterfully depicts how grief hits you hard just when you think it’s gradually fading away. And then, there are times when it never leaves, and in a way you try to hold on those fragmented memories. This French drama film redefines those layers with some sparkling performances in muted colours and dappled frames.

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Cast and Crew

Arieh Worthalter

Vicky Krieps

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