Proxima (2020) - Movie Review

 

While the last several years have shown a growth in the sub-genre of psychologically-tinged space operas, where the mental effects of space travel have been examined to largely enthralling effect in films like The Martian, a relatively smaller sub-sub-genre has grown alongside it, that of the parental astronaut. Films like Interstellar that highlight the difficulty in disconnecting from our little blue marble through showing one of the strongest relationships we are capable of, that being the one between a parent and their child. And this French offering from writer/director Alice Winocour looks to be another in that trend.

After seeing Eva Green play Tim Burton’s muse for the better part of the 2010s, I can’t really say I knew what to expect from this. Her performance, one as embedded in subtler emotions as the narrative around her, is a rather flooring reprieve from her hammier roles in 300: Rise Of An Empire and Dark Shadows, among others. Then again, she's working in her native France for a change (something I'm sure more than a few filmgoers don't realise... like I didn't, until looking it up), so it makes for a good showing of her range beyond the bombastic.

As the embodiment of the intersection between mother and astronaut (another showing of a woman seeking to thrive in a male-dominated industry), the strain of both her training and her distance from her daughter can be especially impactful to watch. Not because of any bombastic displays of emotion, but because of how slowly but steadily it creeps up on her, and the audience in turn.

Her scenes with Zélie Boulant as her daughter are very affecting, and quite heartbreaking at times, and I found myself really connecting with Boulant’s Stella. She’s shown as struggling with dyslexia and dyscalculia, and the way that struggle is shown both on her own and as alleviated through communication with Green’s Sarah… honestly, as someone who also struggles with mathematics and numbers (I literally have problems reading calendars), the idea of dealing with that as well as being disconnected from Sarah once she leaves Earth really got the feels going.

Not that this is all pathos, though; those who check out these sorts of movies from a general interest in astronauts and space travel will get their fill from this as well. The film’s narrative takes place entirely on terra firma, and Sarah’s training scenes are shot at actual European Space Agency facilities, both of which allow for a pretty solid look at the training involved in this endeavour. Admittedly, I went into this with only an episode of Wildboyz as an example of what astronauts and cosmonauts go through as prep for space travel, but some of that even shows up here like training underwater to simulate zero-gravity.

As much as I want to crack jokes about how this film could’ve used a Vomit Comet or two to keep things interesting, as its quieter approach didn’t completely gel with me throughout… well, that would just disregard what the film gets right. As a more maternal example of the Daddy In Space genre of Interstellar and Ad Astra, and a tribute to real-life female astronauts in turn, it certainly hits some major emotional gold and Eva Green’s lead performance is genuinely incredible. It might drop the ball slightly with the ending, which is a tad too ambiguous for everything leading up to it, but as the latest in a breed of emotionally and psychologically charged space cinema, it can hold its own with the big boys.