Speeding through the Moroccan desert to attend an old friend's lavish weekend party, wealthy Londoners David and Jo Henninger (Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain) are involved in a tragic accident with a local teenage boy. Arriving late at the grand villa with the debauched party raging, the couple attempts to cover up the incident with the collusion of the local police. But when the boy's father arrives seeking justice, the stage is set for a tension-filled culture clash in which David and Jo must come to terms with their fateful act and its shattering consequences.
The Forgiven, based on the 2012 psychological thriller written by Lawrence Osborne, attempts to balance the carefree ostentatiousness of the rich and privileged with the quiet, humbleness of the natives who both serve them and those who live in the deep desert. What could be a story of a man whose accident changes his thinking and wakes him up to the casual indifference of his friends is regrettably a wasted film that only manages to tell half a good story. On the one hand, David's journey with the locals is a transformative one for him, a personal journey complete with great acting from Ralph Fiennes and Saïd Taghmaoui. On the other, our secondary plot of the weekend long rager hosted by Matt Smith's Richard Galloway is a hollow, pointless look at Jo's descent into adultery in David's absence. With a cast of characters completely disconnected from all reality, it's almost impossible for the audience to latch onto or care about any of them (Jo included) as they wax poetic about international relations and occasionally remember to fret over David, who's out of contact during his entire trip. The weakness in the story at Galloway's villa makes is seem as if John Michael McDonagh didn't have enough story with just David's journey and needed to concoct a 'meanwhile, back at the base' subplot. McDonagh's attempts at shining any bit of light on the inequalities between the hard partying Europeans and the local Moroccans that serve them are, at best, hollow, fleeting, and almost insulting.
Starring Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain, The Forgiven does neither of these excellent actors any favors. Not for lack of trying, however; both are doing the best they can with the paltry meal that's served them on the page. Fiennes, no stranger to playing unlikeable characters, is delightfully detestable in the film, casually tossing off racist untruths with all the misinformation that the only the privileged can muster. This is what sets the stage for Fiennes' slow transformation over the course of the film's runtime and while it can't be said he has a full Christmas Carol Scrooge-like turnaround, it's evident that his experiences in the desert have changed some part of him. Fiennes' ability to play these subtle changes in a glance or a hesitation in speech are superb acting, and the nuances in his enlightenment give the audience hope that David can turn a new leaf in life.
Jessica Chastin as Jo, David's long suffering wife, has a lot less to do, to the detriment of the film. The supremely talented actresses is wasted in this film, resorting to being not much more than a object lusted after by Tom, another member of Richard's party. While McDonagh attempts to inject a steamy, flirty relationship between Jo and Tom while David is away, the flimsy dialogue between the two makes their scenes together bland and uninteresting. Chastain, while having some agency in the first act as it's obvious her and David are unhappy in their marriage, is reduced to little more than a pretty face in a bikini in the second act, and set dressing in the third act.
Written and directed by John Michael McDonagh, The Forgiven proves yet again that McDonagh's direction is stronger than his writing. The initial concept of an indifferent man who's forced to face the consequences of his actions in a foreign land is an intriguing one. The story McDonagh crafts around that outstanding concept isn't as interesting and the script based off that story is sadly less than stellar. What we're left with is a talented director working off a source that doesn't live up to his talents, even though he wears both hats. Visually, McDonagh takes full advantage of the wide open expanse of Morocco, providing viewers with something like a travelogue experience as David rides with Anouar and Abdellah to their home. Editing wise, the 117-minute runtime is thankfully smooth, intercutting between David's isolation with the Moroccans and Jo's time spent partying with Tom. While the story lacks any real punch or substance, the pacing of the movie has to be credited; the accident happens fairly early in the movie in an attempt to grab and keep the audience's attention throughout, and McDonagh smartly knows when it's time to cut away from one plot back to the other.
Overall, even with its aimless storytelling and meandering plot, there might be enough in The Forgiven to salvage a decent, workable story. Presented as a suspenseful thriller, this film is best reserved for a middle of the week watch, after work, with a drink firmly in hand. Ralph Finnes and Jessica Chastain are trying their hardest with an undercooked script, Matt Smith and Christopher Abbot are tossing away their lines with the casualness of someone reporting the weather, and Abby Lee (a breakout star in 2019's Lovecraft Country) is seemingly present for no reason. The only actors worth paying attention to are Saïd Taghmaoui and the always dependable Caleb Landry in a small yet entertaining role full of snark and sass. A fascinating premise wrapped in subpar writing, the movie is unlikely to make any top 10 lists for the year but still has just enough juice to entertain the viewer on a slow night.
