Another End

In a world where someone’s personal memory storage can be accessed and viewed via in-eye devices, Sal (Gael García Bernal) mourns the death of his partner Zoe. His sister Eve (Bérénice Bejo) works for a company specialising in the transfer of these consciousnesses into consenting hosts to help with the grieving process. At first deterred by the fact that the love of his life should now reside in another body (Renate Reinsve’s), Sal soon surrenders himself to these meetings.

While set in a universe filled with new technologies and consequent possibilities, the science fiction in Another End is not the film’s main concern. Instead, the elements work as a means to an end, to tell a love story on the one hand, but most importantly perhaps, to raise ubiquitous questions about love. There is seemingly no end to the philosophical pondering inspired by the feature: even as its characters all do things decidedly unhealthy, we know the alternative for some of them would be suicide, so why are we, as the audience, so quick to judge their coping mechanisms?

The feature is full of elaborate images. In its opening scene, for instance, an awkward social interaction with Sal and one of his neighbours is in the foreground of every one the shots, but a mirror on the wall reveals strange occurrences behind them.

Bernal and Reinsve have a somewhat off-kilter dynamic, but it works well for the story. His increasing fascination with her warrants no explanation, as her mesmerising aura transcends the camera and captures the audience in equal measure. In her few scenes as another inhabitant of Sal’s building, British actress Olivia Williams stuns and adds another layer of emotional complexity to the established processes.

Taking side roads and backstreets instead of walking a straight path, Sicilian director Piero Messina approached the journey as the reward. However, Another End is not devoid of familiar tropes. A reoccurring trend of the science fiction genre, in particular, is the idea of the plot constantly wanting to go one better, even though it is not always what the established core motifs call for. Diehard sci-fi fans may have their expectations disappointed, but to anyone looking for an unconventional way of dealing with bereavement and human connection, Another End comes highly recommended.

Selina Sondermann

Another End does not have a UK release date yet.

Read more reviews from our Berlin Film Festival 2024 coverage here.

For further information about the event visit the Berlin Film Festival website here.