Laurent Cantet set the seal on his pre-eminence by winning the Cannes Palme d’Or in 2008 with the tough school drama Entre les Murs, or The Class; and then his English-language debut Foxfire (2012), adapted from Joyce Carol Oates, was respectfully received. But this is a very low-key chamber piece from 2014, about a reunion of middle-aged friends, which of course turns out to be an autumnal, bittersweet affair involving the exhumation of painful secrets. It is set mostly in one spot: a roof-terrace overlooking Havana’s Malecón, and has evidently grown out of Cantet’s contribution to the portmanteau movie 7 Days in Havana (2012).
Five old Cuban comrades meet up for drinks: troubled Tanía (Isabel Santos), boisterous neocapitalist Eddy (Jorge Perugorría), teacher and failed artist Rafa (Fernando Hechavarria), factory worker Aldo (Pedro Julia Díaz Ferran) and writer Amadeo (Néstor Jiménez). They first met as teenagers at a communist work camp – an old photo of them looking heartbreakingly young is passed around – and they are still conflicted about the abandoned or congealed leftist idealism of their youth. Should they mourn it? Or feel ashamed that they submitted for so long to a repressive regime on the point of vanishing into history’s dustbin? They are particularly disturbed that Amadeo, who has been living in exile in Spain, now plans to return to Cuba to live out his days: the Cuba they now daydream about leaving, or having never inhabited in the first place. Inevitably, secrets are disinterred and the film saves a major confrontation for the big finish. It is a bit stagey, but heartfelt and well acted.
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