Image via Variety
The first glimpse establishes their relationship. Sam (Colin Firth) and Tusker (Stanley Tucci) are lovers. Second glance finds them on the road in an Autotrail RV, driving on the left through the British countryside. They are an old couple. “Do you hear that sound? It’s the sound of me ignoring you,” Tusker tells Sam with good humor. When Tusker says “the thing,” Sam knows exactly the thing to which he refers. But stopping at a roadway diner, Tusker seems distracted, one measure off the rhythm. Nineteen minutes into Supernova, the word “dementia” is first heard.
Supernova is a film about what may be their final holiday, the last road trip for a couple who have been together since the last century. Their destination is Sam’s piano recital, an event orchestrated by Tusker against his reluctant partner’s wishes. Tusker is an author (with an interest in astronomy) who is losing his grip on words on their journey to places of memory, including a visit with Sam’s family. Sam’s set are smart and upper middle class, supportive and aware of the situation, yet awkward moments ensue. But the discomfort of family and friends is nothing next to the pain in the private conversations between Sam and Tusker.
Written and directed by Harry Macqueen, the British production’s stoic tone is broken only by moments of agony. Supernova brushes off any hint of melodrama as Sam represses the impulse to tears and Tusker considers his future. The nostalgic songs heard on the RV’s radio whisper the emotional drama though the fleeting melancholy of Donovan’s “Catch the Wind” and the rising desperation of David Bowie’s “Heroes.” Tusker is still lucid enough to know when he’s losing his lucidity. Supernova wonders what’s left of a person who can no longer remember his own life?
Supernova is a quiet film suffused with sadness, loss, denial and fear—not of death but the path to the end and the loneliness that follows. Tucci and Firth give thoughtful, deeply felt and sometimes heart-wrenching performances throughout.
Opens Jan. 29 at the Downer Theater.
