Silvia (Jessica Chastain) works at a public home in New York City for adults struggling with mental health conditions. She leads a simple and structured life: her daughter, her job, her AA meetings. She meets Saul (Peter Sarsgaard, winner of the Best Actor prize at the Venice Film Festival), who is suffering from early onset dementia, in the worst possible circumstances, after he has followed her home from their high school reunion party and she finds him soaking wet and freezing outside her door the next morning. This unlikely encounter will have unforeseen consequences for both as their burgeoning friendship brings buried traumas to light. The story of a woman coming to terms with her past as she encounters a man losing contact with his, Memory is a masterful, touching film from Mexican director Michel Franco (Chronic, 2015; New Order, 2020).

Notes by David O’Mahony