39 Years
2010, 90 minutes
A family who is trapped in their house and in themselves by their inability to communicate and understand each other. However their son still has a chance to make some form of connection.
he film begins with Robert, sat in his kitchen with his half eaten lunch and the plate in front of him. His coffee cold, his world clean, him the single dirty spot in an otherwise perfect house. Voices are heard coming from somewhere. Jack is in his room, drawing on the walls, the roots of a tree wrapping all the way round and round and round the room, before slipping into someone else and becoming an observer, staring blankly. Amy's presence is felt and Robert begins to clean up the mess he's made in the kitchen while she watches, eventually leaving to find her place in the living room. The characters begin to try and find something more, probably a daily routine. Amy stares out from behind the blinds in the hopes of seeing where the voices from outside are coming from, to make a connection. She can't see much and so reverts to watching a soap on television. Robert takes claim of his seemingly only area in the house, in the study. He picks out a novel, the abridged version of Les Miserables and begins to read, soon opting instead to read about it and its significance on the internet. A doorbell rings and Amy cant bring herself to answer it. Robert hears it too, coming downstairs to investigate. Jack hears them from downstairs, an argument ensuing between his parents. It lasts for a while as we watch his understanding, his face, and he begins to draw. We see the entire process. When it settles down he begins to slow down too and take time to look at his work. Amy is cooking in the kitchen, her eyes are red. She chops up some vegetables as a pan is heating up. Robert sits in the living room and sees a photo of his son on the wall. He gets up and walks to the bottom of the stairs but hears the noises in the kitchen and instead chooses there, watching silently his wife from the doorway. She doesn't notice, or maybe she does but decides not to react. He leaves and finds the letter that has been pushed through the letterbox, taking it upstairs to his study before opening and scanning the writing carefully. He begins to organise the drawer of his desk that contains all his letters. Amy is nearly ready with the food. She places out three sets of cutlery at the table, and pulls out thee chairs and starts to serve the food. Robert leaves the study and walks to his sons door, he knocks a few times before listening and then heads downstairs. In his room Jack hears the knocks and stops what he's doing, which is reading. He understands the signal, obviously, and starts to put away the book before stopping and dropping it on the ground. He opens his bedroom door and walks around the entire rest of the house. He can't find his parents. We're not even sure that's what he's looking for. He finds a seat in the living room, but can't stay sat there for long. There is no key in the front door. In the kitchen everything is perfect, and Jack begins to pull out drawers and rifle through them trying to find a key. He doesn't leave drawers strewn all over the floor, but the kitchen certainly doesn't look how it used to. He searches the rooms of the house and can find no trace of a key. Somewhat defeated he heads back to the front door and watches it. Nothing moves, nothing happens. He decides the living room is his best option and takes a seat on the couch and closes his eyes.