The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
    • Shows & On demand
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

Berlin Film Festival 2017

Barrage

Berlin Film Festival 2017: Barrage | Review
10 February 2017
Oliver Johnston
Avatar
Oliver Johnston
10 February 2017

Movie and show review

Oliver Johnston

Barrage

★★★★★

Special event

Berlin Film Festival 2017

9th to 17th February 2017

Young Alba’s mother has not been part of her life for the last ten years. With no discernible catalyst, Catherine suddenly reappears and wants to connect with her daughter. Alba has been raised by her grandmother, Elisabeth, who is regimented and somewhat brittle, but never cold. Catherine takes her daughter on an outing that is not as spontaneous as it seems, an event that even the most sympathetic of prosecutors would concede as basically a kidnapping. And so goes Barrage, the sublime second feature from director Laura Schroeder.

As Elisabeth, Isabelle Huppert’s initial scenes are all too brief, leading to the question as to whether her role is a quick and undemanding cameo, perhaps due to the fact that her daughter in the movie is played by her real-life daughter, Lolita Chammah. Having such an iconic screen presence in what is seemingly presented as a minor role is something of a distraction, although it’s not a spoiler alert to say that Huppert shows up again to assert herself.

The film truly belongs to Lolita Chammah as Catherine. She offers a maternal warmth that bustles with a desperation just beneath her fractured surface. Her mania is seemingly never far from being unleashed, and it would be easy for the character to become lost in histrionics. The actress never overplays the role, but the “dark thoughts” that are touched upon as the reason for her abandoning her daughter are conveyed with a sharp nuance. Chammah is quite brilliant here.

Laura Schroeder seems to favour a succession of extreme close-ups, allowing her characters to loom, lurch, and even lunge, without giving them anywhere to hide. Mental illness on film has a tendency to be overcooked, but this gentle tale of how three generations of women deal with brutal emotions offers a beautiful, quiet complexity.

★★★★★

Oliver Johnston

Barrage does not have a UK release date yet.

For further information about the 67th Berlin Film Festival visit here.

Read more reviews from the festival here.

Watch the trailer for Barrage here:

Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.

YouTube privacy policy

If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.

Related Itemsberlin film festivalberlinalereview

More in Berlinale

Eeb Allay Ooo! interview with Prateek Vats

Oliver Johnston
Read More

My Little Sister: An interview with Nina Hoss, Marthe Keller and the directors

Joseph Owen
Read More

“We’re able to have fun without being locked into our mobile phones”: An interview with Delete History directors Benoît Delépine and Gustave Kervern

Oliver Johnston
Read More

Irradiated (Irradiés)

★★★★★
Oliver Johnston
Read More

There Is No Evil (Sheytan vojud nadarad)

★★★★★
Oliver Johnston
Read More

Berlin Film Festival 2020: Awards predictions and highlights from the festival

The editorial unit
Read More

There Is No Evil press conference: Backing Mohammad Rasoulof and the subjectivity of cinema

Oliver Johnston
Read More

Police (Night Shift) press conference with Anne Fontaine, Virginie Efira and Omar Sy

Oliver Johnston
Read More

Riz Ahmed and Bassam Tariq on Mogul Mowgli and the challenge of representing your own culture

Oliver Johnston
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Movie and show review

Oliver Johnston

Barrage

★★★★★

Special event

Berlin Film Festival 2017

9th to 17th February 2017

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Female filmmakers lead nominees for the London Critics’ Circle Film Awards
    Cinema
  • Jeremiah Fraites – Piano Piano
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Persian Lessons
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Lonely the Brave – The Hope List
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • 23 Walks
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Live Lab at The Yard Theatre: An interview with associate director Cheryl Gallagher
    Theatre
  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • We Ask These Questions of Everybody: An interview with Amble Skuse and Toria Banks
    Theatre
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • WandaVision: Marvel’s charming sitcom proves an astounding success
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • The Queen’s Gambit: A chess story that’s not about the moves but the motives
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Undercover at Morpheus Show Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Berlin Film Festival 2017: Menashe | Review
Concept Korea autumn/winter 2017 collection catwalk show | NYFW