Proxima (film)

Proxima is a 2019 French drama film, directed by Alice Winocour.[3]

Proxima
Film poster
Directed byAlice Winocour
Produced byIsabelle Madelaine
Émilie Tisné
Written byAlice Winocour
Jean-Stéphane Bron
StarringEva Green
Matt Dillon
Lars Eidinger
Sandra Hüller
Music byRyuichi Sakamoto
CinematographyGeorges Lechaptois
Edited byJulien Lacheray
Production
company
Dharamsala
Darius Films
Pathé Films
Pandora Film Produktion
Distributed byPathé[1]
Release date
  • September 7, 2019 (2019-09-07) (TIFF)
  • November 27, 2019 (2019-11-27) (France)
Running time
107 minutes
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench
English
Russian
German
Box office$733,914[2]

The films stars Eva Green as Sarah, a woman trying to balance her work as an astronaut preparing for a year-long stint on the International Space Station with her family life as mother to an eight-year-old daughter Stella (Zélie Boulant). It also stars Lars Eidinger as Thomas, her ex-husband and Stella's father; Matt Dillon as Mike, her colleague, who is dismissive of her abilities as an astronaut; and Sandra Hüller as Wendy, a psychologist helping to guide Sarah and Stella through the complexities of the situation.[4]

The film was shot in various real training facilities of the European Space Agency and Roscosmos such as Star City and Baikonur Cosmodrome.[3]

Summary

Sarah (Eva Green) is a French woman who has spent her entire life, since infancy, training to be an astronaut. She learns that she is a late, last minute addition to the Proxima crew to Mars, the first humans who will lose sight of Earth.

While Sarah is thrilled to be going she struggles with leaving Stella, her young daughter for whom she is the primary caregiver after separating from her spouse, Thomas. Despite her worries, she leaves Stella with Thomas and prepares for her mission.

In addition to being a late comer to the mission Sarah is also the only woman on the Mars crew. She is met with open hostility by the American captain, Mike, who lets her know that he prefers the male substitute training to be her replacement. However Sarah gradually wins his respect as he watches her determination while training.

During training Stella is allowed to visit Sarah once. Sarah insists that special allowances be made to accommodate her daughter and allow them more time together. While the meeting initially goes well it ends badly as Stella becomes anxious and bored and runs away, once again causing friction between Sarah and Mike, who berates Sarah for her actions. The following day Stella leaves while Sarah is still sleeping.

Increasingly struggling with the emotional toll of leaving, Sarah is surprised when Mike attempts to cheer her up, telling her that it is impossible to be a perfect mother or astronaut and they are only human. Later, at the last meeting before Sarah and the other astronauts go into a two week quarantine before leaving for space Sarah is devastated when Stella and Thomas miss their flight and her last opportunity to see her daughter in person before leaving earth.

Sarah and Stella are able to see each other a final time, but this time it is between a pane of glass as Sarah is in quarantine. Stella reminds her mother that she promised they would be able to see the rocket she was leaving on together but Sarah broke her promise. A devastated Sarah sneaks out of quarantine and awakens Stella and takes her to see the rocket early in the morning.

That evening the rocket launches with Sarah onboard with a picture of Stella by her side. On Earth a teary eyed Thomas and a smiling Stella watch the rocket launch.

Cast

Awards & Nominations

Release

Proxima premiered in the Platform Prize program at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival[5] and received an honorable mention from the jury.[6] It was shortlisted to be the French submission for the 2020 Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.[7]

Critical response

Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes calculated an approval rating of 83%, and an average rating of 7.10/10 from 103 reviews, with the critical consensus stating: "Proxima sometimes struggles to communicate its themes, but worthy intentions and a powerful central performance from Eva Green more than compensate."[8] Metacritic rated it 79 out of 100, based on 9 critics, citing "generally favorable reviews".[9]

References
  1. "Proxima". Pathé Films. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  2. "Proxima". Box Office Mojo. IMDbPro. 2019. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  3. Jordan Mintzer, "'Proxima': Film Review | TIFF 2019". The Hollywood Reporter, September 6, 2019.
  4. Jared Mobarak, "Proxima: 2019 TIFF Review". The Film Stage, September 7, 2019.
  5. "TIFF 2019: Platform lineup includes films by Julie Delpy, Sarah Gavron". Now, August 7, 2019.
  6. "The film Martin Eden wins TIFF’s Platform Prize". Toronto Star, September 13, 2019.
  7. Goodfellow, Melanie (September 17, 2019). "'Les Miserables', 'Portrait Of A Lady On Fire', 'Proxima' on French Oscar submission shortlist". Screen International. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
  8. "Proxima (2019)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
  9. "Proxima Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
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