The Forgiven

Despite a rather a decent cast, this is all a bit of a non-story. It centres around a soirée being given by the rather ostentatious gay couple "Richard" (Matt Smith) and boyfriend "Dally" (Caleb Landry Jones) deep in the Moroccan desert. Travelling to that get-together are "Jo" (Jessica Chastain) and her rather drunken husband "David" (Ralph Fiennes). Along the way, in the darkness, a young boy "Driss" steps in front of their car and he is killed. Repatriating his body with his family exposes "David" to some of the traditions and culture of the local people who deal with their grief in a traditional manner - one that requires the man to journey to the boy's home, to meet his father - and to try to make some amends. Meantime, his rather unconcerned wife stays with their hosts and makes merry with the handsome "Tom" (Christopher Abbott). There is certainly some beautiful cinematography of the environment in which these two have chosen to live, and the film offers a gentle opportunity to observe how the rather libertine lifestyles of two gay men and their eclectic group of friends clashes with the long-established culture of their community. That gives some handsome people a chance to flirt and wander around scantily clad for much for the film, but the story is really quite lacking. Fiennes is fine as the disillusioned drunkard, but the rest of the cast are unremarkable (usually the case for the over-rated Smith) and the ending is, well, really quite disappointing. At all but two hours long, it is also too lengthy. What little plot and character development there is in no way justifies the film dragging on for quite this long. It's a good film to look at, but like a meringue - there isn't too much going on when you probe deeper which is a shame because at times the film presents us with personalities that are almost colonial in their attitudes, and that could have been built upon to give the narrative and characters more depth.