Review of Calendar (2009) by Eric B — 11 Apr 2010

This tale of a photographer's deteriorating relationship with his wife is more intriguing for its structure than its plot. Writer/director Atom Egoyan plays a photographer recalling how his marriage unraveled during an overseas trip to shoot old Armenian churches for a calendar. His wife acts as his translator for the journey, but her affections gradually turn from him to their local guide. Since Egoyan's own wife portrays the role and he is of Armenian descent himself, the situation has obvious personal resonances.

The story is told via flashbacks, one for each church. The contemporary setting finds Egoyan's post-marital character enduring a string of tedious dates, repeatedly alienating women with awkward conversation and then losing their attention as they excuse themselves to make a flirtatious phone call. As the women chatter away in the next room, he pulls out his writer's pad and the next flashback unfolds. It's eventually suggested that the photographer may be staging this repeated scene -- possibly with prostitutes -- to somehow gain creative inspiration. Typically for Egoyan, the events are more than a little ambiguous and hampered by an atmosphere of numb, repressed introspection. In the case of "Calendar," weak acting is another problem. Still, the film is worth seeing, and it's quite short so it doesn't wear out its welcome.