The Sparrow in the Chimney, from Ramon Zürcher, is a dark family story filled with brokenness and unspoken trauma. Yet, the title (and an early scene which embodies the title) gives the film a sense of hope that the darkness can be escaped. In the end, that escape is beginning to take shape.
The film revolves around Karen, who lives with her husband Marcus and their two teenaged children in her childhood home that she has inherited from her mother. As her sister Jule and her family arrive to celebrate Marcus’s birthday, the family dynamic clearly shows a pattern of broken lives—all of which seem to orbit around Karen’s black hole of depression.
Karen and her daughter Johanna are constantly at odds, even beyond the normal adolescent rebellion. Marcus is having an affair with the neighbor who walks their dog. Her son Leon loves to cook, but is said to never eat—and is constantly bullied by other boys. Karen is seems completely impassive in the midst of all this.
There are various visual aspects of the film that increase the sense of injury—frequent scenes that involve blood, many objects that get broken, a non-accidental death of a pet. This is a family that is struggling with many personal traumas, but we will learn that they probably all trace back to Karen’s trauma as a child—a trauma that is never spoken of. It is only when that trauma is brought to light that we (and her family) come to understand her sorrow. And it is only when she begins to escape that trauma that she begins to move on to happiness.
It’s not always pleasant to watch the brokenness of others. There is a certain sense of voyeurism in films such as this. That sense is heightened in the film because almost always, there is a watcher who sees what others are doing. It may be helpful for us to understand that there are often unseen and unspoken issues that are the hidden foundation for someone’s unhappiness—which then becomes foundational for the unhappiness of those around them. But it is also possible to get so bogged down in the depression that runs through most of the characters, that we too may feel trapped. In this case, it takes nearly all the film to get to the point of seeing a light of hope. It is there, but for many it may be a struggle to get there.
The Sparrow in the Chimney is in select theaters.
Photos courtesy of Film Movement.
