Berlinale Competition: “Another End”: The future has not been thought through to the end

Are body and soul connected? What makes a person anyway? In “Another End,” director Piero Messina brings people back from the realm of the dead for a second farewell. But he only hints at exciting moral and philosophical questions, which means the film lacks depth.

In the first scene, Sal (Gael García Bernal) helps an elderly woman assemble a shower head. She invites him to tea, in the same room a man sits motionless on an armchair. The lady doesn’t pay attention to him. The camera also focuses exclusively on Sal and her. Then two men undress the dead man in the background. Only when they transport him away in a transparent case does the camera pay attention to him. As we later learn, this body is a human rental shell, a “host,” into which memories of her deceased husband are recorded before each “session” in the old lady’s apartment.

It is not surprising that Messina chooses two lovers for the plot, Sal and Zoe (Renate Reinsve), who, like Orpheus and Eurydice, were separated by death. Sal lost Zoe in a traffic accident. He feels responsible for her death. Little is learned about their relationship; earlier moments in their relationship take place in Sal’s “Ineye memory room”: a kind of inner television on which memories are replayed. As an audience you don’t see any of it.

Messina uses science fiction technology cautiously, except for the company Aeternum, which offers the “Sessions”, and Ineye technology is no different than in our world. Unfortunately, Messina artificially inflates the few science fiction images. For example, he presents the loaned bodies in a huge factory hall, a futuristic tunnel made of glass and steel leads to the company, which is shown in the usual sci-fi white. In addition, Sal walks suffering through a pale concrete desert with a sad look. So they really wanted to make it clear that it was science fiction.

The plot is expected. Sal’s sister Ebe (Bérénice Bejo), who happens to work at Aeternum, persuades Sal to bring the deceased loved one back for three “sessions.” The number is prescribed, after which Sal has to say goodbye to it for good. He’s cheating with the friendly, smiling rental Zoe. She says something, he doesn’t listen to her. One wonders whether the sentences that Zoe utters have already been spoken by the person who is still alive. That might explain why their encounter feels terribly flat.

Piero Messina wrote the script together with three others. Unfortunately, the fact that so many authors were involved led to logical errors. When Sal finally meets Ava (Renate Reinsve), the host for his dead lover, he seems seriously attracted to her, whose body is supposed to only serve as a shell for other people’s memories. Then the plot spirals into Ava’s double life. Instead of memories, Sal holds on to Ava’s body. There is no mourning work; instead, the script quartet inserts a therapy session, which unfortunately takes place more off-screen than in the film.

The idea of ​​“Another End” is original, but the script seems unfinished, every character is one-dimensional and the soundtrack is too intentional. Instead of touching you, the science fiction parable leaves you cold.

»Another End«: Italien 2024. Director: Piero Messina. Mit: Gael García Bernal, Renate Reinsve, Bérénice Bejo, Olivia Williams, Pal Aron. 130 Min. End: 25.02., 10 Uhr, Berlinale Palast

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