Review of You Were Never Really Here (2017) by Isaacj — 15 Jul 2019

Lynne Ramsay has shown herself to be an especially powerful voice in cinema, a filmmaker who prides upon working on her own terms and telling stories she wants to tell. The slight disadvantage of Ramsay’s selective methods mean that we see only sporadic offerings from her… yet when we do get to feast our eyes on a Lynne Ramsay project we’re not in for disappointment. You Were Never Really Here is the writer-director’s fourth film, a favourite at Cannes at 2017 and starring the exceptional Joaquin Phoenix. Based on a novella by Jonathan Ames, this is some of the finest work we have yet seen from Ramsay; harsh, bruising and raw, You Were Never Really Here is the psychological thriller as it’s meant to be done.

Phoenix plays Joe, a brutal yet efficient gun for hire who specialises in finding and rescuing missing teens. We first meet Joe in the opening shot as he attempts to asphyxiate himself; it’s an uncompromising and harrowing image that sets the path of what is an uncompromising and harrowing film. Joe is ravaged by thoughts of suicide, tormented by memories of childhood abuse and wartime tragedy. He is hired by a Senator whose daughter has been kidnapped by a sex ring; it seems easy work for Joe until everything starts to go awry in a violent tale of mystery and trauma. It is tough to think of any way to adequately respond to this film other than to applaud it. Lynne Ramsay crafts a measured thriller, reeking with tension and thematic richness. It runs at a brief 90 minutes though doesn’t feel rushed; truth is, there’s no trimmings here… every shot is painstakingly rendered, every flickering look and every burst of remarkably contained violence reasoned and impactful. It’s a film of few words and this is absolutely to its credit- we understand so much more about Joe and his fragile mental state in that cruel silence. On the outset, one expects an action thriller, a Taken revenge story, but Ramsay turns all expectations on their head. You Were Never Really Here is a pure character study of a deeply troubled man. It’s a testimony of grief and mental torment and prefers quiet moments of tension over bloody gore. The film rests entirely on Joaquin Phoenix, who like Ramsay is delivering some of the most compelling work of his whole career. Phoenix utterly immerses himself in a character that is tragically believable and bolstered by an understated performance from the Oscar nom. However stupendous Phoenix is, Ramsay is the true maestro here. Her direction in this film is enough to quench any sceptics of her skill, a daring approach that lingers on moments of profundity but equally gives the audience no time to breathe. Though there are moments of alarming violence, this is not the focus of the film; we’re distanced from Joe’s ‘work’ (one certain sequence is viewed through the prism of a security camera) yet the fractured flashes of Joe’s damaged psyche are as real and horrifying as anything. In this brutality however there’s something eerily beautiful about You Were Never Really Here; it’s a film full of gorgeous and shocking visual poetry that takes an unnervingly surreal approach and blurs the field of reality- how much of what we are seeing is real and how much of is actually the tormented dreams of our troubled protagonist? It’s one of many interesting questions that is raised… but pleasingly never answered. The sparse dialogue here means there is a relieving lack of exposition; Ramsay isn’t leading you by the hand but rather allowing you to sink into the world she creates and form your own perspective. It’s a world conjured in an illusionary style by Thomas Townend’s judicious cinematography and elevated with unsettling vigour by a superbly atonal score by Jonny Greenwood.

There’s something remarkable about You Were Never Really Here; lacking in ornamentation, everything on show here has some effect, every seemingly trivial shot meaning something more than it does on the surface. It’s a challenging watch but this is part of what makes this and the rest of Ramsay’s filmography so enthralling. Some will walk away asking deeper questions, others will walk away simply satisfied by an intense thriller. Either way, you’ll appreciate the raw craftsmanship behind it, every aspect perfectly aligned to create an eerie and mesmerising piece of cinema.