‘Brother and Sister’ Review: Marion Cotillard Has a Severe Case of Sibling Rivalry in an Overwrought Melodrama
variety.comGuy Lodge Film CriticWhatever other flaws “Brother and Sister” may have, you absolutely cannot accuse it of being slow to build.
Within its first 10 minutes, two estranged siblings bawl each other out at a dead child’s wake, one declaring the other “an indecent monster”; a screechingly staged single-vehicle car crash imperils an elderly couple and paralyzes a teenage driver; then, a barrelling truck at the scene brings further tragedy.
Even before we’ve had time to gather the principals’ names, French director Arnaud Desplechin’s latest dysfunctional family tableau makes no bones about its dialed-to-11 melodramatic agenda; that attention-grabbing intensity soon dissipates, however, in the gauzy, maudlin study of toxic sibling relations that ensues.
Marion Cotillard’s headlining presence may pique international interest in a talky piece likely to play better on home turf.
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