Everybody Knows (2018)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Everybody Knows (2018) – A. Farhadi

Iranian director Asghar Farhadi (best known for A Separation, 2011) is a master of ambiguity – we are never quite sure where his characters stand in relation to each other and whether or not they are withholding information from each other (and from viewers).  In his second film outside of Iran, this time working in Spain, Farhadi employs superstar actors Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem and Argentinian Ricardo Darín to good effect in a mystery drama that has less interest in whodunnit and much more interest in the relationship dynamics that result.  Cruz and Bardem play ex-lovers who are now married to others but who are brought together again when Cruz returns to Spain from Argentina with her two children for her younger sister’s wedding.  After a slow build where we get to know the characters, a crime occurs and suspicion falls on everyone – Farhadi does a nice job of slowly revealing secrets that implicate each of the principals in turn (including Darín when he too travels to Spain).  Perhaps there are a few too many secondary characters (to increase the number of red herrings?) and perhaps the retired policeman is too overt a plot device directing the characters to provide information to advance the story.  Finding out who the culprits are is rather unsatisfying, suggesting again that this is not Farhadi’s main focus, and the open-ended finale (again with the ambiguity) probably lets everyone off the hook.  Nevertheless, I was gripped by the possibilities, the tension, and the emotions for most of the film.