Review: Ismael's Ghosts (aka Les fantômes d'Ismaël)

"I'm in a living nightmare and I can't wake up!" proclaims Ismael Vuillard (Mathieu Amalric) in Arnaud Desplechin's latest work, Ismael's Ghosts (aka Les fantômes d'Ismaël). Last seen in Desplechin's 2004 Kings and Queens, the character has been reinvented to become a widowed director making an espionage thriller inspired by his estranged brother Ivan (Louis Garrel), whom he believes to be a spy.

Desplechin shows extended glimpses of Ismael's screenplay, which seems to be informed by Ismael's own life as it is by Ivan's, an element which invites viewers to assume that much of Ismael's Ghosts must itself derive from Desplechin's own life experience. It may be the case but, even for audiences unfamiliar with Desplechin's previous work and back story, one can well understand how any director would want and attempt to wrangle people, places and incidents from their own lives and transform it, if not into art, then something that provides some clarity or meaning. Where it gets a bit tricky with Desplechin and Ismael's Ghosts is Desplechin typically constructs his films like Chinese puzzle boxes filled with disparate and conflicting pieces.

The film-within-a-film opening soon gives way to a portrait of a man seemingly on the verge of a breakdown. Ismael has repaired to the seaside with his loving and supportive partner of two years, Sylvia (Charlotte Gainsbourg), an astrophysicist whom he describes as "having her head in the clouds," in order to focus on his screenplay. He takes sleeping pills during the night to quell his nightmares, which may emanate not only from the difficulties of work but from the loss of his wife Carlotta (Marion Cotillard), who disappeared without a trace 21 years, 8 months and 6 days prior and who has now suddenly reappeared, very much alive and intent on resuming her life with Ismael.

Her presence naturally throws Ismael's life into disarray. Though he professes to Sylvia that she is his homeland and he wants nothing to do with Carlotta, it's evident that Ismael still bears unresolved feelings of grief and guilt for his wife. Sylvia is herself confronted by emotions of insecurity, anger and hurt. Meanwhile, Carlotta's father, Henri (László Szabó), is both crazed and comforted by her reappearance. There's already so much to unpack and such rich material to mine that it is somewhat frustrating when Desplechin switches focus back to the business of making Ismael's film, which often comes off as unnecessary filler, especially since the parallels between reel and real life are few and far between.

Which is not to say that Ismael, Carlotta and Sylvia's narrative is not without its faults. Carlotta's reveal of how she's spent the past two decades, for one, borders on hogwash and Desplechin would have done well to maintain the mystery rather than explain it. There are fascinating references here - a dash of Rebecca, a bit of Vertigo with Carlotta's name, even a reference to Inception where Cotillard portrayed another wife that was both haunting and haunted - but Desplechin doesn't do enough with them or with other referential factors to deepen the film's themes of self-refraction and self-assemblage.

Nevertheless, one can't ignore the excellent work of all actors involved, from the charismatic Garrel and a luminous Alba Rohrwacher in supporting roles to Szabó's heartbreaking turn and the central trio, who are all impassioned in their portrayals.

Les fantômes d'Ismaël (aka Ismael's Ghosts)

Directed by: Arnaud Desplechin

Written by: Arnaud Desplechin, Julie Peyr, Léa Mysius

Starring: Mathieu Amalric, Marion Cotillard, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Louis Garrel, Alba Rohrwacher, László Szabó, Hippolyte Girardot