“There’s proof that they can make a movie out of anything” were the exact words my father had upon emerging from To Dust, a film about a man awaiting the decomposition of his wife’s corpse to give him closure. Yes, you read that correctly. The film itself plays like a very, very dark comedy. How dark? So much so that imdb lists it as a drama and the fellow in front of me in the theater twice turned around to tell me I was disrespectful for laughing. I’m sorry, sir. Do you honestly believe any part of visiting a farm where scientists study rotting corpses is part of the normal grieving process? I’m laughing to keep from crying.
Middle-aged father Shmuel (Géza Röhrig), a Hasidic Jew complete with payot, has just lost his wife to cancer. As if that alone weren’t tragic enough, nor the leaving behind of two boys, Shmuel is starting to have nightmares about the transformative properties of his wife’s spirit. His boys, seeing their father’s obsession, secretly think that dad has consumed mom’s dybbuk, her dislocated soul now trapped in dad’s body. Shmuel has his own ideas about the emotional battles he fights, and feels that he will find closure when and only when his wife’s body has sufficiently decomposed.
So, you can’t just go digging up your wife’s corpse to check for decomposition every five minutes, now, can you? Shmuel does the next best thing – searching out a “scientist” for real answers, Shmuel latches on to Albert (Matthew Broderick), a mediocre biology professor at the local community college. The two discuss decomposition factors which leads Shmuel to purchase an entire dead hog from a butcher, sail out to a remote island, and bury it. You know, for comparison purposes.
You tell me right now this isn’t a comedy. No, go ahead, try and make that argument.
Upon reporting the results to Albert, the “man of science” objects partially with the absurdity, but mostly with the comparison method. That hog 1) isn’t newly dead, 2) isn’t in a pine box, 3) doesn’t weigh as much as Shmuel’s wife, etc. Clearly, the issue here is bad science. What can be done? Next thing you know, the –and I want to emphasize this— very, very Jewish man steals a larger live hog and brings it to Albert’s place so “proper science” can take place.
Reading this back, To Dust actually sounds like a funny movie, doesn’t it? I wish it were. To Dust is often very dour. Géza Röhrig plays the mirthless heart-broken husband throughout, which, sadly, dominates the ridiculous. The biggest problem with this movie is that the two leads are approaching from different perspectives: Géza Röhrig thinks he’s in a drama where a grieving husband has lost his light forever; Matthew Broderick thinks he’s in a comedy, where the absurdity of the human will has taken on several new dimensions. Even when these two find chemistry, it’s impossible to call To Dust anything but uneven. I’m left with a film I cannot recommend for the comedy, because it’s only sporadically funny and very sad in between, and I cannot recommend it as a drama because the plot, the lead, and the script are all one-dimensional. Man wants closure, thinks of nothing else. There’s your film.
I’m glad films like this exist because art should be diverse, but I really cannot imagine the world in which this plot will ever make for a great film.
♪Well he’s got no choice
Cuz he heard her voice
Ain’t no rejoice
But a caught pig … noice!
Ya he can’t find peace till his wife is bone
Until then, the dreams won’t leave him ‘lone
Shmuel’s out for science!
Shmuel’s biting conscience!
Shmuel’s been broke to pieces♫
Rated R, 105 Minutes
Director: Shawn Snyder
Writer: Jason Begue, Shawn Snyder
Genre: Disturbingly practical science
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Solemn souls of the Jewish faith who don’t realize it’s a comedy
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Plot seekers
♪ Parody Inspired by “To Dust”
