Dir: Tamara Stepanyan | French, Armenian, English – 2025 – 104’
Camille Cottin stars in this enigmatic ethnological arthouse drama from Tamara Stepanyan making its premiere at Locarno’s Piazza Grande – an outdoor cinema with the largest capacity in Europe.
Cottin – whose character remains unnamed – has come to Armenia in 2021 to collect her deceased husband’s birth certificate and, just to be on the safe side, is carrying a Makarov gun from his time in the 199os hostilities. She is already feeling disoriented and traumatised thousand miles of miles from home when the train, hurtling through Western Armenia, comes to an abrupt halt forcing passengers to make the final stretch of the journey on foot.
Born in 1968 in the town of Gyumri, Arto’s past seems shrouded in mystery. A knowledge of Armenian history and the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, would be useful to fully appreciate this subtle story of loss and longing.
Browsing through handwritten records the next day the clerk assures the Parisian mother of two that no such birth certificate for Arto ‘Saryan’ exists. On further examination it transpires he has been registered under a different name, and this stark revelation leads to conflicting reports of Arto’s life and death from several local people. To die without trace or burial is not uncommon in this part of the world, but this is only the start of a series of setbacks in the Armenian-born director’s mysterious reflection on war in a place where nothing appears to be entirely straightforward.
With its atmospheric score of ethnic music the feature then fleshes out some social and political context when Cottin teams up with a French-speaking local (Zar Amir Ebrahimi) who is traumatised by the war and extends the hand of friendship, the two heading off ostensibly to look for clues in the countryside. But clearly the woman has an ulterior motive. The following day Cottin finds herself driving the van alone with an unusual cargo.
Tamara Stepanyan directs with a lightness of touch capturing the sinister sense of danger engendered by circumstances beyond control. Avoiding histrionics, Cottin gives a thoughtful performance as a bereaved woman continuously on the verge of tears and embarking on an uncertain journey for the love of her husband and future of her children in this intriguing film which is lightened by an amusing interlude from Denis Lavant as a local herder. Two years later we learn (from a postscript) that Azerbaijan would invade Arsakh. @MeredthTaylor
Piazza Grande – Opening Film | LOCARNO FILM FESTIVAL 2025