Review | Before, Now & Then movie review: an Indonesian woman struggles against the backdrop of her country’s turbulent past in immaculately staged art-house drama
- On its surface Kamila Andini’s story is of a woman who loses her husband, marries another but still pines for her first love, who she suspects of an affair
- Dig deeper and, as with her previous films, the director focuses on women whose fates are inevitably tied to men as a metaphor for the state of the country
3/5 stars
Following the critical success of The Mirror Never Lies and Yuni, filmmaker Kamila Andini ventures deep into Indonesia’s turbulent past to chart the struggles of a woman whose life has been torn apart by conflict.
Adapted from the novel Jais Darga Namaku (“My Name Is Jais Darga”) by Ahda Imran, which was itself inspired by the life of Raden Nana Sunani, a woman who lived in West Java in the 1960s. Before, Now & Then is the most ambitious film to date from its young female director.
As with her previous work, Andini’s film homes in on the plight of its female characters and how their destinies are inescapably tethered to the men in their lives, whether present or not, and sees these as metaphors for the fate of the country itself.
The aftermath of the second world war has left the country in turmoil, and the power struggles that follow claim close to a million lives. Amid an atmosphere of almost dreamlike limbo, villagers in rural West Java gossip in hushed tones about Dutch, Japanese and communist insurgents.
Their attention is also drawn to Nana (Happy Salma), wife of the wealthy Mr Darga (Arswendi Nasution). After her father and son are swept up in the conflict, with her husband presumed dead, she is left with little alternative but to remarry.