Generally when I watch a new film, I like to know what it’s vaguely about to prepare myself for what I’m about to watch. I needed to know what Blue Valentine was about, I needed to prepare myself for heart break. With a bevy of films in my possession, sometimes I just need to randomly pick something and roll with that. But slow your roll, that’s not where Reconstruction comes in quite yet. The film randomly picked was Insomnia. I’ve had for upwards of a year, and decided to watch what I hadn’t seen before. It was a great film, very suspenseful, but that’s not the purpose of this post. Who really intrigued me was Maria Bonnevie (Ane, the receptionist). Though her screen time was minuscule, she still owned that roll. I had to see more of her. Enter Reconstruction.

I didn’t know much about Reconstruction. Boe won the Camera D’Or and it was a Romance film is all the knowledge I had going in. Much to my delight/surprise, I found myself glued to the screen at 10PM (I’m usually out cold or Churchill’d in some bar). Most of my insistence on staying awake was to completely understand (or not understand) the story unfolding before my ocular balls.

“It is a film. Everything is constructed. Still it hurts.” First words uttered by the narrator of the film, establishing a meta-ness to the film. Simone loves Alex. Alex falls for Aimee. Simone forgets Alex ever existed. Though Alex remembers the love Simone had for Alex. Alex is somewhat like us, the viewer. In this Twilight Zone like twist, his entire past has disappeared, including his own home. Reconstruction. His entire life has been restructured to account for his new found love, Aimee. His relationship with Simone was easily one sided. He only claimed to love Simone when asked. It was a relationship of complacency on Alex’s part.

It isn’t until the end of the film do we understand the rules of Alex’s world. Once he loses Aimee, we understand what plagues poor Alex. “If he steps back…if he doubts…she will disappear.” Alex doubted his love of Simone, so she and all that came along with her disappeared. There was a moment of doubt in the restaurant he was to meet Aimee in post one-stand night. She left to use the water closet and came out, again, not knowing Alex. Though, as fate would have it, she still wanted to be with him. At this point, it seems clear to us they’re destined to be together. C’est belle.

But alas, the above quote regarding doubt wasn’t intended for Simone, but for Aimee. Alex genuinely missed Simone and began to follow her. All while his relationship with Aimee was taking off. She was ready to leave her husband for him and take off to Rome. (Oh yea, she’s totally married to some hot shot author by the name of August. He’s old. Like, super old! Did I mention he’s the narrator? More on that in a bit) They’re to meet at a bar and take off. Where was Alex? Yet again, Simone became infatuated with Alex who then held him up and missed his appointment. Yet again, he doubted, so he lost Aimee…again. The world does nothing but test Alex and his love of these women. A shred of doubt will undoubtedly result in the loss of whomever he’s with.

Already we have the Twilight Zone “no-one-knows-me” aspect of it. We’re thrown further into a loop when we discover August, Aimee’s husband, is none other than the narrator of the film. Him being a writer, we’re left begging the question: is everything happening a figment of August’s imagination? In a brief interview with him, we can assess his novels pertain to love and all it brings with it. He’s — dare I say it? — in love with love. With this new twist, Boe managed to make me feel like Alex; I didn’t know what to believe, and still, to this point, don’t know what to believe. What’s real? What’s a story? We know nothing is real, we’re told that in the very beginning. Nothing makes sense and everything makes sense.

This film is drop dead gorgeous. From Boe’s use of Super-16 and available lighting, to Manuel Alberto Claro’s cinematography and framing, to the editing and plenty of superimposed images. To Maria Bonnevie’s Double Life of Veronique like performance as both Simone and Aimee. To Nikolaj Lie Kaas’s handsome self. It’s films of this nature that make me want to be a filmmaker. A technical marvel through and through. Christoffer Boe has emerged as one of the few leading filmmakers in Dane history.