Review of ‘Tableau’: A compelling shutterbug’s portrait of her troubled family
A young photographer is forced to see her problematic family and life through a challenging new lens.
Review of ‘Tableau’: A compelling shutterbug’s portrait of her troubled family
Cast: Sofia Smith, Amy Davis, Katie Bezilla, Cade Gass, Kelly Durfey, Dimi Bissig, Kesley Rappe, Rose Abernethy, Cricket Jones, Stephen Mutz, Brooke Pike, Hannah Conners, Eden Priddle
Critic’s Rating: 3.5 Stars out of 5
Director: Stuart Howes
Duration: 1 hour, 12 minutes
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Release: 2022
What’s it about?
A young photographer is forced to see her problematic family and life through a challenging new lens.
Review:
Tableau is a well-realised depiction of a family in distress with one child aspiring to spread her wings and leave the nest. This coming of age yarn displays the troubles of early adulthood, the strain of life-altering choices and the inevitable loss of innocence. Here is a deliberately-paced drama of a young adult in a dilemma about having to bid adieu to a life of certainty and attachment. This film also prudently addresses the aspect of communication within a familial unit. Does trust warrant divulging inflammatory information? Or is silence about one’s transgressions a more discreet option?
Nicole (Sofia Smith) is close to graduating college as a Fine Art in Photography major. But the picture perfect image of her family is about to be severely defaced when she returns home for the summer. Her mother Michelle (Amy Davis) spills the beans about a wrongdoing on her part. But while Nicole’s father Guy (Dimi Bissig) seems unfazed, the girl is left shaken and saddened. The couple also tell Nicole that they prefer to keep her sickly younger sister Lou (Katie Bezilla) in the dark until she is mature enough to know. Nicole is extremely close to her little sibling and keeping such knowledge from her puts her in an awkward position.
Meanwhile, the distraught Nicole has a lot of important decisions to confront. These include taking up an internship, working on a project abroad, realising her hopes and plans for Lou, and pursuing a tenuous love life. But the devastating disclosure from her Mom hampers Nicole’s positive mentality and perspective. In a chat with her male friend Alex (Cade Gass), Nicole says that she nurtures an ambition to do photo-shoots of tableaus (which for those who don’t know, are model sets that represent scenes from a story). This admission appears to exude quite some significance in the context of Nicole’s journey. Can one really set up the ideal scenario for oneself or are we mostly subject to circumstance?
Nicole starts to distance herself from those closest to her. Will there be a thaw in the icy relations with her mother? Will she stay and work in proximity to her family? What schemes are in the in pipeline and will Nicole’s parents intervene to thwart them? The audience is kept moderately engaged while trying to figure out where the narrative is going. There are a couple of unexpected developments, but these don’t seem incisive enough and the denouement might leave some viewers a bit disappointed.
However, on the whole, Tableau is still a well-crafted film. Small brief scenes help capture the essence of a family in transition - from unadulterated joy to fractured communication. Smith does a fine job at capturing the nuanced expressions, voice and demeanour of the melancholic and conflicted protagonist. The star is also surrounded by pretty good performances while feature-film debutante writer-director-editor Stuart Howes manages his roles fairly well. This flick might remind film buffs of other movies with a similar theme - like Boyhood (2014) or Ladybird (2017) or to some extent Ordinary People (1980). Like those flicks, Tableau is guaranteed to induce viewers to reflect on that pivotal, bittersweet time in their lives.
