You Were Never Really Here

You Were Never Really Here is a 2017 British-French-American thriller film written and directed by Lynne Ramsay, based on the novella of the same name by Jonathan Ames. The film stars Joaquin Phoenix, Ekaterina Samsonov, Alex Manette, John Doman and Judith Roberts.

It premiered at the 70th Cannes Film Festival in competition,^[2][3] where Lynne Ramsay won the Best Screenplay award and Joaquin Phoenix won the award for Best Actor.^[4]

Plot

A missing teenage girl. A brutal and tormented enforcer on a rescue mission. Corrupt power and vengeance unleash a storm of violence that may lead to his awakening.

Cast

• Joaquin Phoenix as Joe
• Ekaterina Samsonov as Nina
• Alex Manette as Senator Votto
• John Doman as John McCleary
• Judith Roberts as Joe's mother
• Alessandro Nivola as Senator Williams

Production

On 11 May 2016 it was reported that Lynne Ramsay would write and direct an adaptation of Jonathan Ames' novella You Were Never Really Here starring Joaquin Phoenix. The project would be shopped to Cannes buyers.^[5] Although it was initially reported that A24 had acquired the project, Amazon Studios bought U.S. rights to You Were Never Really Here on 13 May 2016.^[6] As of 18 August 2016 You Were Never Really Here began filming in and around New York City.^[7] On 2 May 2017 it was confirmed that composer Jonny Greenwood would score the film.^[8]

Critical reception

You Were Never Really Here received a seven-minute standing ovation at its Cannes Film Festival premiere, on May 27, 2017. Critics particularly lauded Ramsay's direction, Phoenix's performance, Greenwood's score and Joe Bini's editing. They deemed it a strong contender for the prestigious Palme d'Or award.^[9] Phoenix won the festival's Best Actor Award and Lynne Ramsay won the Best Screenplay Award.

The film received a 92% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 8.9/10,^[10] and a score of 86 out of 100 on Metacritic.^[11]

Variety (magazine) Guy Lodge, said Ramsay may be the world's "greatest working filmmaker", and called it "astonishing ... a stark, sinewy, slashed-to-the-bone hitman thriller far more concerned with the man than the hit".

Joseph Walsh of The Skinny gave the film a rating of five stars out of five and states "You Were Never Really Here is a brutal, punishing watch, but every minute is a masterclass in filmmaking. It’s like a one-inch-punch to the gut, winding you from the start and giving you no respite. This exquisite examination of suffering will leave you staggering from the cinema".^[12]

Time Out (magazine) said, "with this impressionistic and often daringly enigmatic thriller taken from a short novel by Jonathan Ames, Lynne Ramsay is back in top form with a vengeance – quite literally, though that emotion is not hers but part of the story".

References

External links

• You Were Never Really Here on IMDb