I Remember You is an Icelandic horror film and a film adaptation of an Icelandic novel about a doctor investigating an apparent suicide in a town and three people renovating an abandoned home on an isolated island. How do their stories intersect? I would not recommend this film in spite of having good bones for a story or at least the ending was artful, but ultimately I did not think that the ending was worth the journey.
I watch a lot of horror films. Something got lost in translation. Either I Remember You’s depiction of the supernatural force central to the strange events was an unfamiliar, but distinctive and recognizable Icelandic element of their ghost lore or the filmmaker wanted to use tropes from two different supernatural tropes with a dash of Spanish melancholy. While the film nails evoking a disturbing atmosphere, it never succeeded at startling this viewer because it is fairly predictable, complete with jump scares, and characters repeatedly doing dumb things.
For instance, there are two protagonists: the aforementioned doctor and the wife in the trio. The doctor has to act like a coroner, but there is one just not available—does that happen? Cue empty hospital except for him. He is apparently also familiar with an elderly schizophrenic patient, which puzzled me because I know that geriatric psychiatry is an actual specialty so he can do all the medicine! To be fair, Iceland is not big, and apparently everyone knows everyone else, but the facility that he works at appears to be sharp and have a capacity for far more than zero. He was also the least professional doctor, and all of the supporting characters noticed. I get that he has a tragic back story, but he should have at least gotten a stern lecture from a supervisor or pulled from the case. (Don’t the cops have their own forensic team?) When you get to the end of the movie, even if you feel satisfied, ask yourself if he actually helped solve the case that he was actually being paid to work on. The answer is absolutely not. Maybe I missed something, but it appeared that he was also new in town so I guess that tragedy equals currency in good will.
The wife in the trio storyline kept falling down and getting injured, but is constantly left alone thus forced to traipse around and risk exacerbating her condition. Once someone finds a dead body anywhere it does not belong, I think as a rule we should stop doubting that the person saw something strange for the rest of the trip. Until you leave, that person gets to do the told you so dance, and whenever that person says something outlandish after the trip, sure you can go back to being skeptical, but that person also gets to remind you of that time that you doubted her, and there actually was a body in the basement. Also when buying property that you plan to renovate, check cell phone reception before sealing the deal. Maybe the trio deliberately chose the location for that reason, but then get a better ferry schedule. Also George Lucas called, and he may be mad that you chose his favorite cause of death for women.
I watch a lot of foreign films, but I am personally conservative. I Remember You had a really strange sexual dynamic even for a European film—a strange counterintuitive mix of withholding and daring. Randomly we get a flash of the doctor changing out of his running outfit so it is kind of natural to assume that the Peeping Thomasina is interested in him, but it goes nowhere so gratuitous nudity for men, hurrah equality, but huh? The trio consist of a married couple and the wife’s best friend. To be fair, I am a better best friend that the character depicted in the film, but on behalf of best friends everywhere, I don’t care if you are married or not, if I am either doing you a favor and/or am your business partner helping you renovate a house, which will never happen because I haven’t done it since I was a young woman, please let’s not all share a room together, but if we have to, please don’t have sex while I am in the room even if you suspect that I am asleep. If you really don’t think that you can stay apart for one night, please don’t let me get in the way. Only invite me over when accommodations are better, and we can be in different rooms, or make sure that I have a mode of transportation so I do not have to stay the night. Later on the scenario makes more sense, but no. Just no!
Maybe it was a mistake to watch I Remember You while I was reading Far From the Tree, but to be fair, how would I know that? The movie definitely implies that people who are autistic or schizophrenic are psychically linked to the supernatural. I will defer to people in those groups regarding how they feel about it, but I felt icky because no one in the doctor’s storyline existed except to help him get resolution in his life, even his job. I was amused that they introduced a high earning lawyer who works in one of those typical glass buildings and has an enormous conference room because space signifies wealth, oh and he happens to be psychic and tapped into the supernatural world. Being psychic is his hobby. It was my favorite moment in the film.
I Remember You does get more interesting when the doctor has a better foil, his ex-wife. Their different reactions to the same tragedy were more engrossing to me than the parallel stories of mournful parents unable to move on from loss. I usually appreciate when horror tackles real life subjects, but this film felt too melodramatic and sensational. It used their grief to draw them closer to the supernatural, but that loss never felt tangible before the supernatural made an appearance. The actual characters felt like an afterthought.
I Remember You is visually stunning. There are some really remarkable shots, especially the nighttime scenes in the trio’s storyline, that silently moved the story forward towards the denouement. If it looked great on television, I cannot imagine how breathtaking it was on the big screen. Oddly enough, in retrospect, the opening credits are probably more important than the majority of the film though tonally it completely clashes with the pacing and style of the rest of the film. The supernatural feels more urgent than the alleged real life characters facing the unknown.
I Remember You felt like the kind of story that began with the ending, and getting there is a complete slog as if you were a kid buying the worst tasting cereal to get the prize. It is possible that I was harder on this movie because I watched it during a global pandemic, but a horror film is not supposed to be a soporific regardless of the circumstances. It just was not good enough to justify 105 minutes of my life flushed away.