VLazy Friday night? The programming takes care of it Rai 4 to make it compelling. On air this evening at 9.20pm, The bay of silence (2020) is a psychological mystery starring Olga Kurylenko and Claes Bang, directed by Paula van der Oest. The plot, on paper, is exciting: set partly in Italytells the disappearance of a young mother with many secrets to hide.
A location that makes you (already) dream of holidays, a beautiful protagonist with a highly respectable cinematographic CV, a story with thriller-love implications (taken from the novel of the same name): all the conditions are there for a pleasant viewing. Nevertheless.
The bay of silencethe plot of the film on Rai 4
Rosalind (former Bond girl Olga Kurylenko) and Will (Claes Bang, recently seen in the TV series The Outlaws And The New Lookon the rise of the designer Christian Dior) I am a young newly married couple who spends a romantic honeymoon in Liguria, a locality Five lands. Eight months later we find them in London, where they seem to live a perfect life. Rosalind indeed she is pregnant And Will became the loving stepfather to their 8-year-old twins that the woman had from a previous relationship.
The balance is broken when, following a bad fall, Rosalind she is rushed to hospital. Childbirth is difficult but eventually Amedeo, the couple’s newborn baby, is born safe and sound. Rosalind, however, remains deeply shocked: he convinces himself that he had had twins and that they are keeping the death of one of them hidden from her.
Another six months pass, everything seems to be fine and Rosalind returns to her occupations, although her mental balance is more fragile than ever. Plot twist: Will returns from a trip, his wife has disappeared and with her the three children and the nanny. Determined to find her, a frantic search begins. And he becomes more and more convinced that the tragic event is connected to a mysterious briefcase, containing faded photographic negatives, which arrived from France shortly before Rosalind’s escape.
Not without difficulty, he finally manages to track them down in the north of France, in a remote village in Normandy. But the joy is short-lived: the man discovers that his youngest child is dead and that his wife is suspected of infanticide. How will it end? Will begins to realize that maybe he doesn’t really know the person with whom he has shared his entire life.
Claes Bang and Olga Kurylenko in a scene from “The Bay of Silence” (Silent Bay Productions).
The review: a mixed film, a bit weak
Based on the novel of the same name by Lisa Saint Aubin de Terán, The bay of silence inherits from the book a complex narrative structure. Filmed between Sestri Levante, London and the Scottish countrysidethe film makes good use of the evocative European locations and Paula Van der Oest’s direction is confident and full of evocative shots.
More a mystery than a thriller, The bay of silence However it fails to fully unravel the threads (and mysteries) of the plot. It’s the fault of a screenplay – written by actress Caroline Goodall – that puts too many irons in the fire and which leaves many questions unanswered. Despite the very high inspirations, from The bird with crystal plumage Of Dario Argento up to the cults of Alfred Hitchcock, the result is mixed and the story makes no sense.
To save the day, an excellent caststarting from the pair of actors: Danish Claes Bang – protagonist of The Square by Ruben Östlund – and Ukraine Olga Kurylenkowhich he starred in Quantum of Solace with 007 Daniel Craig. Both very good, no doubt about it, at interpreting ambiguous characterswith many secrets to hide.
Claes Bang in a scene from “The Bay of Silence” (Silent Bay Productions).
The cast, with the beautiful Olga Kurylenko
Ukrainian actress born in 1979Olga Kurylenko, after a past as a model, debuted in cinema in 2008 version Bond Girlin the role of the character of Camille Montes (on the occasion of the twenty-second film of the saga).
The notoriety gained with 007 allows her, at the beginning of the 2010s, to working with some of the greatest contemporary directors. Starting from Terrence Malick who, in 2012, wants her as the female protagonist alongside Ben Affleck in To The Wonder. In subsequent years alternates blockbuster – like Oblivionwhere he stars alongside Tom Cruise – auteur films (also Italian). Among these, he counts himself The correspondence by Giuseppe Tornatorewhere Olga stars alongside Jeremy Irons.
Mother of little Alexanderhad in 2015 from her ex-boyfriend Max Benitz, Olga will soon return to the cinema in Marvel movies Thunderbolts (expected release, 2025) where she will play the very evil Taskmaster. Also alongside him are Harrison Ford, Florence Pugh and Sebastian Stan.
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