As the old Polish proverb goes: "The greatest love is a mother's, then a dog's, then a sweetheart's."
In the history of storytelling, what greater motivation is there for a protagonist than the maternal drive? Very few films have delved into this territory, but a few great ones to check out are "The Changeling" (Angelina Jolie) and "The Others" (Nicole Kidman). Dog protagonists, unfortunately, get even fewer films, but for that you might want to check out Lasse Hallström's "Hachi" (2009).
Here in "The Iris Effect" we get a strong maternal thriller--probably more so than the others I mentioned--which sets the stage for a deeply emotional story. Plot summary: a mother who has been obsessively searching for her runaway son for over a decade, ends up in Russia where she thinks she recognizes his paintings in an art gallery. Strange things start happening, pushing the limits of her sanity which is already pushed to the limit by her decade long delusional obsession. Is she seeing supernatural visions, or is she just plain nuts?
The setup is magnificent because we instantly recognize and accept her obsessive motivation, even though it has ruined her life, and everyone including her therapist is telling her that she's crazy to keep at it. The "crazy" angle also figures in wonderfully as she starts having hallucinations that blur the line between delusion, reality and the supernatural.
What follows is an intriguing breadcrumb trail of a mystery that requires some patience and intelligence to figure out. This isn't a simple "oh he's hiding in Russia" story, and it isn't a linear "run from the bad guys" type thriller either, but it's a complex interweaving of stories that involve a creepy art curator (the sultry Mia Kurshner), the director of a lunatic asylum (Gregory Hlady), and a suicidal young woman who knows something she's not telling (Agnes Bruckner). The performances are very nuanced; there aren't any big melodramatic freakouts like we've come to expect from Hollywood flicks. This production is a Russian-American collaboration with a distinctly somber European air. Yet each actor has a chance to shine in their own moment of reckoning (don't miss Mia Kurshner's scene, it's amazing).
This brings me to the lead: Anne Archer whom we may recognize as the tortured wife in "Fatal Attraction" (1987) where she earned an Academy Award nomination. Here she nails the mother role perfectly, with sentimentality as well as that fierce maternal drive which makes the audience take her seriously even though none of the characters in the film seem to. But despite being gaslit from all directions, Anne's character never wavers from her purpose. And that's where the interesting part comes in:
She never doubts her quest, making her a strong heroic figure driving the story foreward, but internally she doubts her past actions and is consumed by guilt and regret over losing her son in the first place. This is what gives the film color. It's a very psychological thriller in the sense that it all hinges on what's going on inside the protagonist's mind. The story itself is very interesting with some surprising twists & revelations, but don't expect shootouts and car chases because it's not that kind of thriller.
Gorgeously lit and shot amid the imposing, otherworldly architecture of St. Petersburg, this film won't necessarily make you spill your popcorn, but the cinematic eye candy alone is worth the price of admission. Go into this with no expectations other than experiencing a deeply human story and you won't be disappointed.
