With a title that could easily apply to all of us insomniacs, A Thousand Times Goodnight tells the story of Rebecca (Juliette Binoche) , a photo journalist who is caught between the front line and the home front. With a a family constantly worried about losing their Mother. who after a brush with death comes home, we end up with a drama that, while it starts well just ends up contrived and pointless.
The idea here isn’t the worst, but can the personal crisis of a photo journalist really be compelling cinema? At times, especially at the beginning, it does. There is a really promising and tense opening in Kabul and we’re taken on a journey of some sensational photography highlighting the stark reality of jihad. From there though, its a steady, albeit slow, slide downhill.
From their home in Ireland (which is straight out of one of those home and style magazines) to Nikolaj Coster-Waldau’s performance as her husband, its very whimsical and almost too perfect. And it’s certainly not believable. The whole mother and daughter trip on a humanitarian assignment may well have you groaning out loud, especially when it turns into a bit of a blood bath.
Besides a script that just isn’t engaging enough as well as being all over the place, the real problem here is Juliette Binoche. While she looks the part in the beginning, she is really not convincing as a photo journalist.It looks incredibly fake and forced. Her performance is dragged out and feels completely insufferable at times, making her character completely nigh on impossible to relate to.
Overall, this is nothing but drivel with an ok idea executed brutally.Avoid.
