SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL: This is a film about guilt and remorse, about the kind of things done and said that cannot ever be taken back. The horrible, wrongful death that propels the plot here is like a contagious form of cancer; this loss seeps into the lives of all its characters and there’s no escaping its insidious and corrosive impact. It’s also a film about a certain kind of male hero worship.
This is the kind of film that plumbs the murky questions that arise anytime there’s [a] terrible crime.
Still, director Lenny Abrahamson doesn’t charge into this grim story. Set inside the privileged sub-culture of a group of rugby mad upper middle class Dublin kids over one summer, Abrahamson and screenwriter Malcolm Campbell take their time. The first half of the movie is spent getting to know their jokes, their loves and likes and fears. In a series of superbly directed moments – beach parties, pub gatherings, BBQs – we get to know the politics of the group. This is a pack led by alpha males. We see how the 'weaker’ kids turn against their own better instincts just so they can get along – and watch with growing alarm as the 'stronger’ ones set the tone – which isn’t always healthy or safe. Still, underneath the boisterous charm of the ringleaders there is fear and jealousy and insecurity. At first it seems that cinematographer David Grennan shooting on digital, alights on these early scenes like an observer. But there are little pieces of action that capture the secret thoughts of key characters that gives all this a heightened, emotional edge; a gesture, a laugh line on a pretty girl, a hand on a shoulder. And it’s this sense of disquiet that gives these early scenes tension; we understand that there’s something rotten here and we wait for it to blast out.
In this group Richard (Jack Reynor) is top dog by virtue of his looks and athletic ability and wealth. To his best mates Stephen (Gavin Drea) and Cian (Fionn Walton) he’s a solid type in thought and deed, his sense of entitlement a thing of envy. But as the film’s hideous events unfold that estimation is tested.
The film’s plot develops out of a love triangle. Conor (Sam Keeley) is a teammate of Richard and the others, but compared to his pals he’s romantic road kill. He’s devastated when Richard starts to date his ex-girlfriend Lara (Roisin Murphy). Richard can’t quite deal with the fact that Lara is the sympathetic type. One night his jealousy erupts. There’s a fight. Conor is kicked in the head. Everybody goes home feeling justified. This kind of thing happens all the time, they’re mates and over time it’ll be forgotten. Trouble is, Conor will never get up.
This is the third feature from Abrahamson, an Irish filmmaker who has built up a strong reputation since his debut feature Adam & Paul, released in 2004.
The script is based on a novel called Bad Day at Blackrock by Kevin Powers. It in turn is based on a true incident that happened in Dublin in 2000 where an 18-year-old man called Brian Murphy died from head injuries sustained after being assaulted outside a pub in Burlington. In Ireland, where the film was a big commercial and critical success, it was seen, understandably, as a sociological tract; a heartfelt commentary on the cruel underside of a youth culture gone awry with drink and bravado.
Still, What Richard Did has been dubbed Bergmanesque by some. That’s a convenient hook but not entirely unlikely. The second half of Abrahamson’s film does indeed have that severe x-ray like treatment of character and incident that one casually associates with the Swedish auteur (and the visuals take on a shadowy, gloomy aspect, as the characters sit and stare in darkened rooms, trying to plot ways for their souls to escape the guilt that threatens to overwhelm them.) But then Abrahamson’s film doesn’t feel like a Bergman (and ultimately these kinds of comparisons aren’t too helpful at unpacking what’s unique about the work anyway.) What Richard Did eschews procedural details and phony shock plotting; instead Abraham and co., elect to scrap away at the moral conflict that lies at the centre of Conor’s death.
Some of Richard’s pals keep their distance. Some want to speak out. Lara is understandably horrified. Others are prepared to go along with the lies out of loyalty. Even Richard’s father Peter (a great performance by Lars Mikkelsen) is overwhelmed by the need to protect his son from prosecution. Meanwhile Richard quietly melts down – in Reynor’s best scene he completely shatters from the burden howling, crying – the wounds so deep their will be no healing"¦
Part of what is powering this suffering is Richard’s realisation that no matter what they have told him, none of his circle are prepared to come out in public about what he did (a splendid and cruel irony that). Instead, all the characters, even the most virtuous amongst them, evade, obscure and withhold what they know. It’s group-think and its most insidious, toxic and cruel.
Abrahamson doesn’t let up and he doesn’t let us off the hook either. I found myself calculating along with Richard ways he could, in some way redeem his crime, yet save himself. But that’s not possible and it’s not right. This is the kind of film that plumbs the murky questions that arise anytime there’s some terrible crime where the helpless are left to ask, 'well why didn’t someone do something?’ The film’s answer to that imponderable question is uncomfortable and unkind but it does have the ring of truth about it - pretending to be good is easier than the real thing. Late in the film there’s a terrifying scene at a funeral where a grieving mother pleads with the congregation for someone to take away her pain and explain what happened to her son and take responsibility. Richard, his family, all his friends are there and they were all friends of the dead kid too, once. No one says anything. No one speaks up - because they know the truth.
Watch 'What Richard Did'
Wednesday 8 April, 1:00am on SBS VICELAND (streaming after broadcast at SBS On Demand)
MA15+
Ireland, 2012
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Lenny Abrahamson
Starring: Jack Reynor, Sam Keeley, Lars Mikkelsen, Roisin Murphy
What's it about?
Richard Karlsen (Reynor) is a charming and talented young man - the undisputed leader of his circle of privileged South-Dublin teenagers. Straight out of school with a long summer and then university ahead of him, Richard’s world seems full of possibility. A new relationship with Lara (Murphy), whom he meets at a beach party, seems to offer Richard the sort of relationship that he’s always been yearning for. But one night, during a party, Richard does something that destroys it all and shatters the lives of the people closest to him. Directed by Lenny Abrahamson (Frank, Room).
