The worst thing about Everybody Knows is that the first 30 minutes or so are truly great. In it, a Spanish woman named Laura (Penelope Cruz) returns to her hometown for her sister’s wedding, taking her two kids along with her and leaving her apparently wealthy husband behind to work. There is clear tension in the town, and director Asghar Farhadi relishes in showing how gossip about this prodigal daughter spreads through the town quickly. Both the story, and the tenuous connections between these characters, is established quickly and effectively.
It’s just a shame that the movie never lives up to this potential. At about the thirty-minute mark, the plot kicks into high-gear as Laura’s teenage daughter is kidnapped, and various members of the family receive threatening text messages from the person who took her, demanding an extraordinarily high ransom. Just about everyone in the town has a motivation to demand such a ransom from Laura, and only one person — her ex, played by Javier Bardem — seems to be interested in helping her. But everyone, as you might expect, has secrets.
The problem is that none of these secrets are all that surprising. Everybody Knows is frustratingly easy to predict, with many of the twists practically telegraphed to the audience within the opening minutes. For a film that spends so much time building up intricate character details, it consistently takes the most obvious route when it comes to executing a plot twist. The film’s main mystery has been done to death in a thousand other movies, and it’s frustrating to see Farhadi take the easiest way out possible.
This is likely because the film is clearly positioned as being “more” than a mystery. This is really just a vehicle for Farhadi to explore family dynamics, the privileges that come with wealth, and the price of secrets. But, even here, the film takes its time reaching a thesis statement that we all know is coming. The major emotional climax between Laura and her ex, for example, barely even registers as a surprise, and acts mainly as a heavy-handed way of asking the audience to consider the terrible cost of a secret. But, by the time the film gets there, the audience would have already processed that theme, or may have not even bothered to dwell on it since countless other movies have done a nicer job. Everybody Knows assumes the absolute worst of its audience, and can’t help but feel a bit condescending because of that.
The film works fairly well whenever Cruz is onscreen. It comes as no surprise to say that she’s a wonderful actress, and while her work here isn’t exemplary, she makes the film worth watching. What’s particularly impressive is how she underplays everything. The role of a mother who lost their child is one that could fly over the top but, here, she plays the part in a decidedly realistic way. Bardem is, similarly, quite good, even if he’s nothing to write home about. The rest of the ensemble is fine, too – this is a movie free of bad performances. It just doesn’t give any of these talented actors something to do.
Given the talent involved, Everybody Knows should be great. It’s not. But what’s particularly annoying is that, even if the film starred less talented actors and was made by a less acclaimed director, it likely wouldn’t be any different. It’s a film with a screenplay dedicated to mediocrity, that gives all involved nothing to work with. What a shame.
