Rated: R
Starring: Benicio Del Toro, Halle Berry, David Duchovny, Alexis Llewellyn, Micah Berry
Directed by: Susanne Bier

• Official Site

I was not impressed with Things We Lost in the Fire. The main actors are not at their usual best, and it reminded me of a low budget Indie flick. Geared more for women, this film strikes an ominous chord with lessons to learn.

The compelling drama centers around two people brought together by fate. Audrey Burke’s (Berry) life has been shattered by the sudden death of her husband Steven (Duchovny). In grief, she turns to one of his life-long friends, Jerry Sunborne (Del Toro), a former lawyer who is on a serious downward spiral due to drug abuse. Together, they work to repair their lives, bonding together for different reasons, one selfless the other selfish.

Sorry to say, but Berry and Del Toro do not give their finest performances in Things We Lost in the Fire. They didn’t seem to possess their usual magnetism needed to draw you to the storyline. In several scenes where Berry pleas for help from Del Toro, her appeal doesn’t seem genuine enough to be believable. And, the Del Toro comforting of Berry sequence was too text book.

On the upside, the subject matter and how it’s handled, for both loss of life and kicking a drug habit, comes across very well. I appreciated the way the audience gets an opportunity to see what it’s like trying to shake a heroin habit, including the meetings, a helping partner and also the drastic decent into ‘hell’ when a drug addict becomes admonished for unknown reasons.

The film is more of a stark lesson in the psychological factors that affect the inflicted, whether it be drugs or an untimely death of a loved one, rather than entertainment.

Women would best enjoy Things We Lost in the Fire as a girl’s night out, where they can chat about their reactions to the film without a male partner interrupting with nonsense like: “Wow, that was a cool flick. That Del Toro can really act, and how about that cool house they lived in...” Well, you get the drift.

FINAL ANALYSIS: A chick flick with a touching theme.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."