Sundown: Michel Franco’s ruined paradise

ichel Franco’s Sundown opens with a close-up of fish slowly suffocating on a boat deck, the first of many enigmatic interjections that punctuate the film. We begin with a family vacation in Acapulco. The Bennetts, an apparently typical nuclear family, swim, sip margaritas, and joke around on the terrace of their luxury resort suite. They attend a cliff-diving contest at the iconic La Quebrada and dine at an exclusive outdoor restaurant. The atmosphere is one of relaxation, with a hint of uneasiness. The holiday mood turns when Alice Bennett (Charlotte Gainsbourg) receives news of her mother’s hospitalisation. The family pack hastily and leave for the airport. At the check-in counter, Neil Bennett (Tim Roth) tells Alice he has left his passport at the hotel and promises to follow on the next available flight. When Neil tells a taxi driver to take him to ‘any hotel’, we sense he has other plans.

Sundown is Mexican director Franco’s seventh film. He first made his mark with the family drama After Lucia, which won the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes in 2012. Franco’s films are often oriented around family and blend drama with subtle elements of thriller or mystery to create an undercurrent of disquiet or apprehension. Franco has described Sundown as being ‘about a specific family’, but it also ‘speaks to larger issues, like economic inequality, breakdown in communications, violence in many forms’. Setting is central to Franco’s films, and Acapulco has for him the feel of a ‘ruined paradise’ ideal for exploring the dynamics of familial and social crises.