Kelly Macdonald plays an isolated housewife who begins to look for some meaning in her life instead of being a slave to the only world she knows.
The interesting thing about Puzzle is that on the surface it may seem like a story about competitive jigsaw puzzling, yet the real puzzle is that of a lonely housewife and how she aims to discover her true calling in life. This film really is a puzzle within a puzzle, it follows Kelly Macdonald as a suburban housewife stuck in a monotonous routine of cleaning up and caring for others ahead of herself with no real meaning in life. Macdonald puts in quite the performance, it is reminiscent of her role in Boardwalk Empire, a woman who begins to be tempted into a realm of obscurity as a means of rediscovering her burning passion for life again. This remake of the Argentinian film Rompecabezes from 2010 sees director Marc Turtletaub returning to similar roots that he dabbled in when producing films such as Little Miss Sunshine (2006), a narrative that looks simple and quirky on the surface, yet reveals a dark undertone as you peel away the layers on closer inspection.
Puzzle’s attempt at showing the downfalls of suburban mediocrity is a strong one albeit, unusual. It shows how a loving mother has been left with no passions in life after always putting others before herself which has resulted in a reasonably unhappy life, wondering about the ifs and buts. Puzzle represents a deep exploration that is needed in Agnes’s life, experimentation whether that be trying her first cigarette with her son or the adventure that comes with meeting an exotic man doubling as the perfect puzzling partner. Severe boredom pushes Agnes into this realm of uncertainty that has clearly been resonating from inside for years. At times Puzzle is incredibly feelgood but it also shows darker thoughts of selfishness on both sides of the story with it being up to the viewer to decide what side they choose to agree with.
The story revolves around Agnes (Macdonald) a suburban housewife and lost soul living in upstate New York, her sole purpose being to look after her family and catering for their every need. The rest of the family consists of husband Louie played by David Denman, a mechanic whose business is struggling to make ends meets and although he loves Agnes, constantly belittles her attempts at finding some adventure. Their eldest son is Ziggy (Bubba Weiler) who is also at a crossroads in his life, hates his job at his Dad’s garage that was given to him out of pity, yet wishes to follow his passion in the culinary arts. Their youngest son is Gabe (Austin Abrams) the family’s bright hope of a successful future in college although has quite different ideas himself. The story starts to pick up pace upon the arrival of Robert the romantic lead and puzzling partner to Agnes, played brilliantly by Irrfan Khan. This was to be Khan’s last full English-speaking film as he died not long after this film’s release. Casting an Indian as the romantic lead in an American film was a bold move and it broke through the ceiling for Turtletaub and what the film could achieve through this decision. A tactic that paid off as the chemistry between Khan and Macdonald shines through and really is one of the strongest dimensions that the film offers.
We are first greeted to Agnes as she is preparing food for her own birthday party, the celebrations begin to wind down and Agnes is then seen cleaning up after everyone on her big day, is this her only role in life, surely she has a truer calling in the world. This begins to come into fruition when she opens one of her presents and is presented with a jigsaw puzzle, a present that would normally be hidden away and never to be seen again, yet this intuitive housewife completes it in record time to reveal a gift of puzzling that has been locked away inside her since she was a child. This journey takes her to New York where she sees an advertisement in a local games shop, the message is asking for a puzzling partner of extreme skill to join forces and start the unlikeliest of adventures.
This meeting of Robert and Agnes starts off innocent although soon turns into a confusing encounter of inquisitee. Agnes, who is entranced by this unknown and exotic man who has lived a life before his present one. Robert is also enthralled by this quiet, lonely woman who has an incredible gift for something he has done his whole life. The combination of these two people quickly turns into something other than puzzling and Agnes soon begins to question her Christian faith, her husband’s love and the life of mediocrity she has once settled for. Robert sees this as a chance at finding happiness once again after his previous trials had all ended in misery and have him winding up in the same place once again.
Puzzle is a film that went under the radar upon its release, small and independent yet rising to a high level of storytelling and creative visualisation. The problem morally is that you can’t help but root for a woman who is willing to throw her family and old life away after one encounter with Robert, should we be supporting this because it shows an independent woman fighting for one last thing. Whichever way you look at it, Turtletaub has created a very strong film with a standout performance from Macdonald that didn’t get talked about enough at awards nights from that year, it could also pave the way for Turtletaub to create more of these types of films, films that are light until you scratch the surface and find something quite troubling underneath it all.
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