Review: Suspended Time – “beautiful shots of the French countryside.”

Nine d’Urso and Vincent Macaigne in SUSPENDED TIME. Courtesy of Music Box Films.

Now five years out from the start of the COVID pandemic, we’ve had a lot of cinematic representation of this period in very recent history.  At first, films that took place on Zoom or in one location were made of necessity, a way to try and jump-start an industry that was placed in lockdown with the rest of us.  

My favourite of these movies was 2021’s Together.  Not to be confused with the recently released horror of the same name starring Dave Franco and Alison Brie, this COVID-era film starred James McAvoy and Sharon Horgan as a couple in lockdown re-evaluating their relationship.  It took place in their home, the camera moving in a way that made the audience feel like a visitor in the house (in fact, in that film, they sometimes talked directly to the lens, which only amplified the sensation.) 

I got a similar feel from Olivier Assayas’ newest film, Suspended Time.  A bit of a departure for the director, whose last feature was 2019’s Wasp Network, this film is a personal, if not autobiographical, look at the director’s time in lockdown. Taking place in the director’s actual home, the audience is invited into this intimate space, full of pieces from Assayas’ history.

Inhabiting this house are Paul (Vincent Macaigne), a filmmaker, and his brother Etienne (Micha Lescot), who is in the music industry.  They represent two sides of the same coin, siblings that have come together to live amongst the ghosts of their parents and their childhood in a small town which has largely stayed the same.  “Here, time stands still,” says the narration, and it’s easy to see.  The area is full of beautiful old homes that boast impressive gardens.  It’s a perfect place to be in lockdown while COVID rages outside.

When it comes to the pandemic, Paul takes things almost too seriously, wearing gloves, stripping down when he comes back from the grocery store, leaving the purchases outside for four hours before bringing them into the house in the hopes time will kill the virus.  Paul keeps up with all the recommendations, but he lives in fear.  Etienne on the other hand is perhaps a bit too relaxed about it all.  He argues with his brother about what he thinks is becoming a neurosis, as he makes his many daily crêpes.  Etienne feels stifled being trapped in their childhood home, whereas Paul actually likes the isolation.  

They’re in lockdown with their partners, Morgane (a revelatory Nine d’Urso), who is a documentary filmmaker, and Carole (Nora Hamzawi), who is the relatively new partner of Etienne after his divorce. The four drink, eat, and smoke their way through the pandemic in a way that feels all rather… can I say, French? As it absolutely should, since Assayas is pulling from his own experience during the height of COVID.  I mean as Paul talks to his ex-wife and daughter on Zoom, you can’t help but think he was doing the exact same with his former partner, Mia Hansen-Løve during lockdown.  

This was the scariest time, when the least was actually known, but media and social media was rife with ‘information.’  There was not yet an effective vaccine, so the future was still somewhat up in the air.  Assayas captures this well with his main characters, who find different ways to pass the time while in limbo.  Paul reconnects with his past and with nature, revelling in the silence, the absence of cars and planes.  He feels it encourages creativity.  “I want to do a period drama with Kristen Stewart,” he says, a clever nod to Assayas’ own collaborations with the actor.  The director feels it too, filling Suspended Time with lots of beautiful shots of the French countryside.  

Paul finding peace in solitude, at least within his bubble, is only truly ruined when the reality outside the gate of their home comes knocking, a threat to their health and even the brothers’ time together.  It’s a constant push and pull between the two.  But, this is really the only drama and story Suspended Time serves.  It otherwise just meanders, sometimes even pausing to visit the objects within Assayas’ house.  We are typically watching either the brothers argue, or Paul discussing artistic endeavours and name-dropping other creatives (artist David Hockney comes up more than once).  

For me, Suspended Time was at its best, watching the four characters interact over their beautiful meals and wine, because that’s when the film seemed most intimate.  The animated discussions between the brothers become repetitive, and while there are relatable aspects of COVID on display, there isn’t anything deeper at play.  Instead Suspended Time feels like just that, minutes on film that sometimes seem stuck, leaving the audience as trapped as its main characters.  

Suspended Time releases in New York and Los Angeles beginning August 15th, with more cities in limited release to follow.