Genre: Drama/Historical
Director: Joanna Hogg
Writer: Abbie Q
Producer: Jane Campion
Based on the novel by Emma Donoghue
Cast: Michael Douglas, Roman Griffin Davis, Vincent Cassel, Berenice Bejo, Rita Moreno, Juliette Binoche, Alain Delon, Jenny Gago, Jean Reno
Plot: In February 2018, Noé “Noah” Selvaggio (Michael Douglas) lives in New York City. He is a recently retired chemist, and he will be 75 in a few weeks. He’s Jewish and originally from Nice, France. When Noah was four years old, his family fled to the United States when the Nazis invaded. Noah’s mother, Margot, remained in France until 1944 to take care of her ailing grandfather. Noah’s mother died in 1992. Noah’s wife, Joan (Juliette Binoche), died a few years ago; Noah misses her and sometimes has an imaginary conversation with her alone. Noah’s younger sister, Fernande, a retired secretary, died a few years ago. Noah misses them all as he hasn’t a social life.
Noah plans on taking a trip to Nice for his birthday, as he hasn’t been there since he was four years old. Noah searches through some old belongings of his mother’s and finds some strange photographs. One depicts an old hotel, and one depicts a young boy. They have initials on the back, which Noah doesn’t recognize.
A little later, Noah receives a phone call from a social worker named Rosa Figueroa (Rita Moreno). She informs him that she’s searching for a temporary guardian for Noah’s grandnephew, 15-year-old Michael Young (Roman Griffin Davis). Michael’s father, Victor (Vincent Cassel), Noah’s nephew, was a drug addict who died of a drug overdose a few years ago. Michael’s most recent guardian was his maternal grandmother, who recently died. When police found Victor’s drug stash a few years ago, his wife Amber (Berenice Bejo), Michael’s mother, claimed that it was hers and pled guilty to the criminal charges, as Victor would’ve had to serve a much longer sentence before convictions. Amber is about halfway through a five-year sentence. Noah reluctantly agrees to meet with Rosa and Amber at the prison.
At the prison, he reluctantly agrees to take care of Michael for the next few weeks while Rosa looks for a more long-term situation for Michael, as Amber still has to serve a little over two years in prison. However, Noah can’t cancel his trip to Nice, so the only option is to take Michael on the trip with him.
The next day, Noah meets with Rosa and Michael in a government office so that Michael can acquire a passport. This is Noah’s first encounter with Michael. It soon becomes clear that Michael is a somewhat unruly, foul-mouthed child whose interests mainly include video games and social media. Since birth, Michael has attended a public school in New York City and has resided in a somewhat dangerous Brooklyn neighborhood.
After Noah and Rosa help Michael apply for a rush passport, the three of them go to Noah’s apartment home. Noah tells Michael a bit of himself, his life, and his deceased loved ones, but Michael does not appear very interested.
Noah and Michael continue to converse in Noah’s apartment. Noah talks about how he adopted Noah’s name after moving to America, as kids made fun of his French name, Noé. Michael admits to not relating, as kids at school often tease him about his mother being in prison. Michael asks why Noah has no children, and Noah replies that he never wanted any. Noah finds Michael’s rudeness alternately perturbing and refreshing. Michael remarks on how quiet Noah’s apartment building is; Michael says that when he lived in an apartment with his parents, the neighbors were generally loud and disruptive. Michael talks about his recently deceased grandmother, who often functioned as a de facto guardian. He says she was strict, but he loved her. Michael adds that she was religious and asks if Noah is religious. Noah says that he isn’t and focuses his faith in the realm of science, although he does not disdain religion. Noah tries to talk to Michael about chemistry, but Michael grows bored. Michael talks about a recent event in which a group of kids stole his skateboard. At the behest of his grandmother, Michael chose to let go of his anger. Also, he did not call the police, as doing so is considered weak in his community.
That evening, as Noah prepares dinner, he tells Michael some of his family histories, such as how Noah’s father lost a hand while serving as a soldier in World War One. The following day, Noah sees that Michael had trouble sleeping, likely due to the stress of the many recent shifts in Michael’s situation. Noah goes over travel plans with Michael. Noah shows Michael the mysterious photographs Noah found in his mother’s old belongings. Michael helps Noah scan the old hotel photo and insert the image into an internet search. The search engine states that the hotel is the Hotel Excelsior in Nice. Noah switches their hotel arrangements to be in that building. Later that day, Noah takes Michael to an art museum. The museum features Noah’s grandfather, Pierre Personnet, who used the nom de plume, Père Sonne. Pierre was a renowned photographer, and Noah donated the photographs to the museum after Margot died in 1992. Unfortunately, Michael shows little interest in the photographs.
Noah and Michael arrive at LaGuardia Airport for their flight. Michael has never been on an airplane or in an airport before. Noah struggles to manage Michael through the various travel tasks, such as the security check. Noah also continues to try to bond with Michael, but Michael appears to have few interests outside of using his phone to play video games and surf the internet. Noah reads a book about his grandfather’s life and works on the plane. Meanwhile, having no internet access on the plane, Michael reluctantly reads a book of interesting facts that Noah purchased for him. They converse a little on the plane, and Michael gradually shows some interest in science and history as Noah talks about those subjects.
As the plane ride continues, Noah shows Michael a photo of Pierre. In the photo, Pierre is wearing a fedora. Noah reveals that it is the same fedora that Noah is currently wearing. Michael is mildly impressed by this revelation. Noah also explains that Pierre’s no de plume—Père Sonne—sounds like the French word that means both ‘person’ and ‘no one.’ Also, Sonne sounds like the French word for the sound that a bell makes. The plane eventually lands at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. They have a brief layover. Noah and Michael briefly discuss politics. Noah says that the modern ‘alt-right’ white supremacists are the same as the Nazis of past eras; both groups are devoid of morality and compassion. They soon board their flight to Nice. They fly from Paris to Nice in a small plane. Before going to the hotel in Nice, they walk down the city streets for a short period. Noah notices that Michael takes a lot of photos with his phone.
As they ride in a taxi to the hotel, Noah talks to Michael about Noah’s family and local history. They arrive at the Hotel Excelsior, and Noah again wonders why Margot took a photo of it. Noah takes a nap in the hotel room. After he awakes, Noah and Michael leave for the hotel to venture out into the city. Because they are in the southern region of France, it is relatively warm outside, although it is February. They stop at a restaurant for a late lunch. Noah asks Michael what Michael’s grandmother cooked for him. Michael says that their options were limited due to financial constraints. Michael’s grandmother relied on government food stamps. After they leave the restaurant, Michael notices a poster that has been vandalized. Noah explains that the poster depicts right-wing French politician Marine Le Pen, whom many people agree has dangerously fascistic ideas.
They pass where famous dancer Isadora Duncan died in a car accident. Noah explains the incident and says that Pierre often photographed famous people, including Isadora Duncan. Noah then talks about the complicated political history of Nice, as many different countries and kingdoms fought to control it over the centuries. Noah then thinks about the photo of a young boy he found in Margot’s belongings. The photo had the initials R.J. on it. He wonders if perhaps Margot secretly had another child. Back at the hotel, Noah helps Michael send an e-mail to Amber via a pay-per-message system designed for communicating with inmates. Noah realizes that he has grown somewhat fond of Michael, and he wonders if Michael will ever want to visit him in the future. Noah and Michael soon find a plaque in front of the Hotel Excelsior that states it was used as a Nazi base. Nervously, Noah begins to wonder if maybe Margot had a sexual relationship with a Nazi to arrange protection for herself. He tries to dismiss this theory as he has no objective evidence.
In the evening, Noah looks through the journal Michael is supposed to be writing. Michael is taking time off school for the trip, so the journal counts towards school credit. Noah sees that Michael has primarily just drawn humorous, gruesome drawings of things tangentially related to their experiences on the trip. They have local seafood for dinner, and Noah makes Michel laugh by making a somewhat crass joke. Michael briefly talks about his family, like his uncle Cody. Cody is paralyzed below the waist due to a ricochet bullet fired by an armed robber. Noah briefly reflects on how living in neighborhoods with high crime rates is kind of like living in a city under siege during wartime. As Noah struggles to fall asleep that night, he wonders if Margot could have secretly worked as an informer for the Nazis. He tries to dismiss the idea, as it does not square with his mother’s knowledge as a kind and moral person.
Noah and Michael awake in the hotel room the following day. Noah proposes various activities that they could do that day, but Michael shows no interest in them. They leave the hotel and pass a school with a historical plaque; the plaque states that students from that school fought and died for the French Resistance. Noah tries not to think about how Margot was possibly a Nazi informer as they tour the area. He tries to think if anyone still in Nice would have known his mother. As Noah and Michael continue to confront the many horrors of the local history, Noah thinks aloud about religion and science and how they help people gain some meaning and solace in the face of human chaos.
Noah then talks about war rations and how they are like the government food stamps on which Michael’s grandmother subsisted. Michael then compares the violence in Nazi-occupied Nice to the violence in his Brooklyn neighborhood. Noah then says that many Resistance fighters used aliases, ‘nom de guerre.’ Michael speculates that maybe some of the initials on the photos may be wartime aliases, and The astuteness of that theory strikes Noah. Noah locates a local archivist, Monsieur Benoit (Jean Reno), who identifies two people in Margot’s photographs as members of the Marcel Network, a group based in Nice that helped forge documents for the French Resistance. The network mainly used those documents to transport children to safety, usually hiding them in monasteries. Benoit agrees to do more research and contact Noah. Later in the day, Noah and Michael begin to grow irritated, and Michael grows more unruly. Back at the hotel, Noah wonders, with horror, if Margot had helped Nazis track and arrest members of the Marcel Network.
During breakfast the following day, Noah and Michael discuss morbid subjects related to death, and Michael appears fascinated. Noah goes swimming at the nearby beach while Michael watches. Michael is ecstatic when he films Noah accidentally losing his balance in the water.
Noah and Michael eat lunch at a restaurant, and Noah looks through the book of Pierre’s work. He shows Michael a series of photos Pierre took of various famous people. Eventually, he stopped taking photos of famous people, and he focused on taking pictures of regular people in everyday situations to celebrate the everyday. As Noah explains, Michael shows a genuine interest in Pierre’s work. They visit the ruins of an old gladiatorial arena and look in a small, adjacent museum. They then visit a building that used to be a base of the Marcel Network. Michael impulsively begins climbing the fence that surrounds the building. Noah panics and tells Michael to come down, which Michael eventually does. Michael then produces a replica gladiator helmet from his backpack, which he stole from the small museum. Noah, exasperated, says that they will return it later.
Back at the hotel, Michael shows Noah some photographs of his mother in prison. One shows Amber’s tattoo of the letter ‘M’ for Michael. Michael reveals a similar tattoo of the letters F.O.E., which stands for ‘family over everything.’ Noah then impresses Michael with a science trick in which he uses absorbent chemicals to make water disappear. They then go to a circus, and Noah and Michael have a surprisingly good time.
Noah does more internet research on the Hotel Excelsior and sees that Nazis sometimes tortured people there. Later in the day, he receives a phone call from the archivist to whom he spoke a couple of days prior. The archivist says that there was a French resistance fighter named Mare Zabel. Her initials—M.Z.—match one of the sets of initials on Margot’s photos. Marie Zabel helped the Marcel network with forgeries. There is no record of Marie Zabel after World War II. Noah tells this information to Michael, and they soon realize that ‘Marie Zabel’ was likely a nom de guerre used by Margot, as her middle name was Isabelle. They are glad to realize that Margot likely worked for the Resistance, not the Nazis.
Later, back at the hotel, Noah asks Michael some more questions about Amber’s legal case. Noah then does some internet research and soon deduces that Michael’s father (Victor) was likely a ‘CI,’ which stands for Confidential Informant or Criminal Informant. A CI is a convicted criminal whom the police coerce into reporting on other criminals to lower the CI’s criminal sentences, etc. CI’s is a widespread practice but is often protested as immoral. Noah realizes that after the police caught Victor—a convicted drug dealer-turned \-CI—with a stash of drugs, the police decided to pin the charges on Amber so that they could continue to use Victor as a CI. Noah decides not to broach the subject with Michael or Amber. Noah begins to rethink his idea that it is good to always trust the police in America.
Noah and Michael awake the next day and meet with Coco (Jenny Gago), who Noah had known when they were young. Noah’s family had hired Coco’s mother to clean their house regularly. Coco recalls that, shortly before the end of the war, Margot was forcibly brought into the Hotel Excelsior by Nazis, apparently for some punishment. However, Margot never spoke to anyone about what had happened. Later, Noah and Michael confer about this new information. They realize that the Nazis likely tortured her for information. She may have even given them information, which might explain why she never spoke about her participation in the Resistance to anyone throughout the rest of her life. Fortunately, her torture occurred close enough to the time of the Nazis being driven out of France that even if she had given information, it would not have helped to Nazis.
Later, Noah and Michael participate in some of the public celebrations of Carnival, Nice’s big annual festival. They join a crowd to watch a big parade. Noah is shocked when his fedora (which he inherited from Pierre) becomes stained due to the general detritus and debris of the celebration. Noah and Michael soon become embroiled in their angriest, most fervent argument so far. Michael runs away in anger and frustration, and Noah cannot find him in the crowd. Noah goes to a police station to report Michael’s disappearance. Noah then returns to the hotel and finds Michael there. They leave the hotel to eat. However, Noah reprimands Michael for running, and they begin to argue again. Michael runs away once again, and this time, he jumps into the nearby ocean. Noah retrieves him, and they return to the hotel to dry off. They are both calmer now, and they begin to reconcile. Noah realizes that it is past midnight and now his sixtieth birthday.
They awake in the morning. Noah thinks about Victor again and realizes that he may have been murdered by people who discovered he was a CI. Noah decides to keep this idea to himself. Noah and Michael visit a nearby cemetery to see the graves of Noah’s maternal grandparents, Pierre and Isabelle. At Michael’s suggestion, they take a picture with the graves. Noah looks at other pictures on Michael’s phone and sincerely says that Michael is a good photographer. Later, Noah receives an e-mail from Benoit, the archivist, about René Jacques, the boy in one of Margot’s photos. His real name is Lucien Demetz (Alain Delon), but his forged documents during the war said René Jacques. Lucien is now an older man, and Noah and Michael visit him in a nursing home. Lucien manages to communicate that Margot did indeed help him escape Nazi-occupied France when he was a boy by helping to forge documents for him. On the last day of the trip, Noah proposes the idea of continuing to be Michael’s guardian until Amber is released. Michael appears to approve of the idea, and as they go to the airport to return to New York, Noah feels grateful and fulfilled.
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