Husband
Dartmouth Films
Filmmakers and stars of the show, married partners Josh Appignanesi and Devorah Baum set out with ‘Husband’, to utilise the art of filmmaking as a means to seek resolution in the issues which have materialised within their marriage. Performing as caricatures of themselves, whilst maintaining a realist filmmaking style that blurs the line between documentary and fiction, the pair act out their harshest misunderstandings, creating a thoroughly uncomfortable watch for the audience in the process.
Centering around a trip abroad for the two Brits, as they jet off in the direction of New York (with only a mild hiccup beginning the journey) on the promotional circle of a recently released book for wife Devorah. Josh tags along under the guise of being a supportive shoulder during the stress of Devorah’s regular public talks and interactions, but instead seems to shoulder the weight of a camera instead, making the most of every possible instance to show his wife at her lowest or most in need of a helping hand.
Character studies, and the dissection of relationships on screen has made for incredible filmmaking throughout history. The endless conflict of Martha and George in ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’, the reluctant separation of Charlie and Nicole in ‘Marriage Story’, as well as the grand dissipation of Marianne and Johan in ‘Scenes from a Marriage’. I name these not only to point you in the direction of far better films covering the subject matter of crumbling relationships, but also to highlight the strength of these films coming as a result of both halves of the relationship fostering equally damning reasons to find difficulty in remaining with their partner. In the case of ‘Husband’ the film's key flaw comes in the fact that the audience must always side with Devorah, because Josh’s character rivals the most self-centered, inconsiderate and obnoxious personalities to have appeared on a movie screen. Endless monologues on his own contributions to the success of his wife’s hard work, with no room for Devorah to speak, become endlessly frustrating, and make it extremely difficult to find any sympathy for him when the film makes room for such an emotion.
It could, of course, be argued that Josh acts in this way as a means to highlight the worst that any husband can be, and explore how a relationship might be able to continue on despite this, but in a film which centres around a book celebrating the importance of communication and self-understanding, such a character appears as completely undeveloped and one-dimensional. Rather than endear the audience to the couple in any way, the filmmakers seem to set about entirely alienating the viewer from the relationship they’re investing their time into, as well as the world in which they inhabit.
From a technical perspective, ‘Husband’ uses the docu-fiction genre to great advantage, frequently leaving the audience wondering whether a conversation which takes place is a part of the script, or a moment of off-the-cuff honesty between husband and wife. There’s a great uncertainty which plagues the film, and works well as a way to show the issues of miscommunication which have arisen in a very affecting way, but also imprints such a great feeling of discomfort that at times, the film no longer seems to be a mockumentary, but a horror. You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone walking away from ‘Husband’ aspiring for a relationship similar to the one shared by Josh and Deborah. This of course wouldn’t be a problem if the film was an entirely fictional creation exploring the experience of falling out of love, but knowing that the story is created and acted out by a married couple makes you just feel sad for the pair, and hoping to never achieve a similar relationship yourself.
Giving credit where it’s due, ‘Husband’ does attempt something new, and uses film as a means to seek some amount of self-exploration within a relationship, but between the pretentious and unlikeable characters, the shoddy camerawork, and the complete lack of any narrative development, it doesn’t feel as if there’s much to be learned from this product of fact and fiction.
