The Unforgivable starring Sandra Bullock is a tour de force for mothers everywhere.
The Unforgivable starring Sandra Bullock is essentially an exploration of a mother’s love, and how far a mother will go to protect her children. It is the story of three very different mothers, from three very different backgrounds, all striving to keep their children from harm. Ruth Slater (Sandra Bullock) who was forced to become a mother to her little sister, Katy, after their mother died in childbirth; Liz Ingram (Viola Davis) who strives to protect her family from the history of their new dream house; and Rachel Malcolm (Linda Emond) seeking to do the right thing for her adopted daughter.
The story starts as the lead character, Ruth Slater, is released from prison after serving a 20-year murder sentence for killing a local sheriff. The film follows Ruth’s highly emotional and fraught journey to be reunited with the grown-up Katy, now known as Catherine.
As much as we may wish otherwise, this story is completely fictional and is based almost completely on the 2009, British 3-part series: Unforgiven starring Suranne Jones, and written by Sally Wainwright (who also penned the subsequent and equally emotional 2014 ITV series Happy Valley starring Sarah Lancashire). Wainwright serves as an executive producer on this new film, and it is interesting to read in a 2016 Radio Times interview, that she was saddened over the failure of Unforgiven to win a second series as she had wanted to follow up what Ruth did next. Maybe we can expect a second outing for this latest Netflix offering.
One of the most revealing, unexpected, and pivotal scenes in the film comes midway through where Ruth sits planting flower seeds into used jam jars with her new co-worker and friend, Blake (Jon Bernthal). Hot on the heels of an instruction from her parole officer (Rob Morgan) to forget all that happened twenty years ago, the emotional fragility in this scene is raw. For the first time, we witness a human side to Slater as she accepts a small gesture of affection.
But it is the measured juxtaposition of Chopin’s Ballade no.1 in G minor Op. 23, played by her sister Katy simultaneously in the Malcolm family living room, which foreshadows the unexpected twists in store. Time and time again, filmmakers turn to the music of Chopin to portray emotional sincerity and depth. Coupled with the stunning score from Hans Zimmer and David Fleming, featuring long sustained chords floating from major to minor and punctuated by soaring inverted pedal notes from the violins which heighten the suspense and unpredictability of the plotline, this film is a masterclass in the redundancy of the spoken word as the main form of expression. For a film shot under the mask of COVID, and a life filled with mask-wearing, it is fitting that so much of the emotional narrative is conveyed purely through the eyes, and at times, with a complete absence of words.
The theme of motherhood never leaves us and ultimately provides the pinnacle of the film both in terms of plot and acting prowess. Viola Davis, who previously had been openly hostile towards Bullock, gives the performance of a lifetime as all three mothers go far beyond the expected norms of maternal duty.
This is a hugely emotional film that demands all our attention. It is not a film to be watched while surfing on the web, or a film to watch while reading the latest updates on FB. The wealth of flashbacks, the densely written plot, and the fleeting visual references (such as the tattooed letter ‘K’ on Slater’s wrist both at the beginning and the end of the film) all build to a crescendo.
There are few films in our life which touch our very core. This is one, and all involved should be hugely congratulated. The Unforgivable is a triumph!
We are left with the question: What would you have done?
Bullock admits, as a mother of two children, she would have done the same.
The Unforgivable starring Sandra Bullock is available now on Netflix.
Photos courtesy of GK films
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Further Reading:
Chopin Ballad no. 1 in G minor performed by the Russian born, Dutch pianist, Sofia Vasheruk
