Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve’s Incendies film, released in 2010, remains a haunting exploration of family, war, and identity, earning an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. This emotionally intense drama follows the journey of Nawal Marwan’s children as they uncover dark truths about their past, set against a war-torn, unnamed Middle Eastern country.
A Powerful Blend of Genres Delivers a Timeless and Complex Narrative
Incendies opens with a gripping, dramatic premise: following the sudden death of Nawal Marwan, her adult twins, Jeanne and Simon, are summoned for the reading of her will. They discover an astonishing request: to find their biological father, whom they believed dead, and an older brother previously unknown to them. While Simon initially resists the quest, Jeanne embarks on a perilous journey from Canada back to their mother’s homeland, slowly unveiling Nawal’s violent and tragic past. The story transcends personal family drama, exposing universal themes of violence and loss.
The film adapts the acclaimed play by Lebanese-Canadian writer Wajdi Mouawad, whose work combines psychological depth with mystery and classic tragedy influences like Oedipus Rex and Hamlet. Villeneuve was drawn to the play’s blend of a modern setting with timeless themes after watching it staged in 2004. To transform the theatrical script into a cinematic experience, he employed a distinctive style marked by expansive wide shots contrasted with intimate, claustrophobic close-ups, highlighting the dual scale of epic civil conflict and intimate human suffering.
The Role of War as a Harsh, Unseen Antagonist in the Story
Incendies unfolds through a non-linear narrative that shifts between past and present, gradually revealing the harrowing events of Nawal’s life. This storytelling technique not only maintains suspense but echoes the fragmented nature of memory and trauma. The film evokes a broader anti-war message, akin to classic cinema like Alain Resnais’ Hiroshima mon amour, illustrating how personal nightmares intertwine with collective tragedy.
War emerges as the menacing force driving the irreversible destruction in Nawal’s life and shaping the characters’ fates. Villeneuve’s previous works, such as Maelstrom and Polytechnique, also explore themes of violence and chaos, with Incendies focusing on how war reverses roles between victim and perpetrator in a cruel cycle. The film’s depiction of war’s brutal impact is comparable to Elem Klimov’s devastating Come and See, where exposure to horror ages the hero beyond his years. Similarly, Nawal’s transformation—from fierce defiance to weary resignation—spans decades but feels compressed by Villeneuve’s fractured storytelling.
Balancing Harsh Reality and Poetic Symbolism Defines Villeneuve’s Approach
Though the setting closely mirrors the Lebanese Civil War period, the country remains unnamed, enhancing the story’s universal resonance. Villeneuve’s artistic choice to avoid explicit geopolitical labels transforms Nawal’s experience into a symbolic tale of countless wartime tragedies worldwide. Incendies opens with a serene, panoramic view of palm trees, creating a deceptively peaceful atmosphere before shifting into the dark realities that underlie the narrative. The film concludes with a parallel shot of gravestones, including Nawal’s, emphasizing the enduring human cost of forgotten conflicts.
The film’s emotional core is shaped by the extraordinary performance of Lubna Azabal, who embodies Nawal across multiple ages, blending realism with mythic gravitas. Azabal’s portrayal draws inspiration from the real-life former prisoner Soha Bechara, infusing Nawal with both vulnerability and resilience. Alongside her, Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin delivers a subtle, resonant performance as Jeanne, whose gradual confrontation with family secrets drives the film’s emotional intensity. Villeneuve’s portrayal of complex female protagonists in Incendies anticipates his later work with multidimensional women, such as Amy Adams’ Louise Banks in Arrival and Ana de Armas’ character in Blade Runner 2049.
Incendies as a Cornerstone of Villeneuve’s Cinematic Evolution
Although not as widely recognized as some of Villeneuve’s later films, Incendies stands as a profound achievement within his filmography and is often considered his personal opus magnum. It brought him international acclaim and paved the way for his English-language features like Prisoners and Enemy. Most notably, it established key thematic and stylistic elements that continue to characterize his work, including the interplay of myth and reality, beauty and horror, and the exploration of human endurance amidst cruelty.
The film’s striking visual contrasts—between sunlit landscapes and underlying tragedy—exemplify Villeneuve’s unique ability to evoke intense emotional responses while maintaining artistic poetry. Now preparing to direct the next Bond installment, Denis Villeneuve’s proven skill in revealing the gritty, unsettling layers beneath familiar stories suggests he will bring a distinct, evocative vision to the iconic franchise.
