The Future Tense
Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor reflect on identity, mental health and what it means to be Irish in their deeply personal cinematic essay.
Image courtesy of Mubi
Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor offer a rare example of a couple who have been making films together for almost twenty years. They started out with short films but then won acclaim and awards for their first feature, Helen made in 2008. It would be followed in 2013 by Mister John and then in 2019 by what I regard as their finest achievement to date, Rose Plays Julie. These films all featured actors so I was taken by surprise on discovering that their latest piece, The Future Tense, is a documentary. It would have been less unexpected had I known of their earlier venture in this field, 2016’s Further Beyond. That was a study of an 18th century Irishman who travelled all the way to Chile but that film was not widely shown.
The Future Tense is very far from being a standard documentary, its novel character being intriguing but not really as satisfying as one would hope. We are assured at the start that, although the material comprises personal reflections by Molloy and Lawlor, they had originally intended to use actors to represent them. However, in the event the filmmakers appear as themselves. The ideas that they wish to express are all linked to the notion of people faced with choices over where they fit in and what place feels like home. One could call that a kind of identity crisis. Our couple are of Irish origin but Joe and his siblings were born in England and so was the couple’s daughter, Molly, since Joe and Christine have long lived here. Aware of the extent to which this country has changed in recent times they are now considering living in Ireland, but would British- raised Molly find it acceptable to make the move with them?
If much of the talk relates directly to their own lives, other threads emerge strongly. Thus we have the story of Joe's mother, Helen, who first chose to escape the confines of Irish life to live in New York and then opted to return to Europe and married an admirer who was then in London. Helen’s later struggle with mental health issues is discussed fully but as part of a wider look at her life. Alongside that, Christine Molloy speaks of a proposed film that the couple hope to make centred on the life of Rose Dugdale, an English woman who, horrified by the events of Bloody Sunday, became a member of the IRA. If Molloy and Lawlor are searching Ireland for a possible place to live, they are simultaneously checking out a cottage where Rose lived and seeking another one that would be a more suitable venue for interior shots. Furthermore, all of these narrative lines feed into the issue of the frequency with which the Irish seek greater opportunities abroad and have done so down the centuries, not least in the era of the Great Famine in the mid-19th century.
At one point in the film Molloy comments on the fact that there is quite a lot of interlacing here. It proves to be a valid criticism, not due to packing in so much but because of the way in which this is done. Throughout the film Molloy and Lawlor take turns to speak to us each seated alone in the same domestic setting and always reading from a script. With Molloy often concentrating on Rose Dugdale and Lawlor on Helen, this pulls us back-and-forth constantly while the presence of a script underlines the fact that their somewhat heightened language would be well suited to radio. It's also the case that their delivery is fast (Lawlor’s especially) and, despite the intercutting of old pictures, landscape shots and the like, there is little pause given to enable us to ponder the implications of the ideas expressed (at one point taking a break is suggested but it lasts for all of twelve seconds!). As that suggests, there is humour here and eccentricity too as when Joe in his chair appears to speak direct to his brother Derry who is sitting in a park. In addition, but for no obvious reason the readings at home are presented as being supposedly in parallel with a flight to Dublin.
One fanciful notion included involves an imagined conversation between Queen Elizabeth I and the Irish woman, Grace O’Malley, famed as a Pirate Queen, but the film seems to go anywhere and everywhere. Historical references range from Lord Kitchener to St. Brendan by way of mention of James Joyce and Sir Thomas More’s Utopia. Films too are called on to illustrate points being made: they extend through Antonioni’s Blow Up to the performance of Gena Rowlands in A Woman Under the Influence. Elsewhere author Kevin Barry is invited to comment on how particular places can impact on one and it’s doubtless back to intentional humour when, more significantly then he would wish, Joe Lawlor includes footage of himself declaring "Sorry I've lost my place".
There's some good talk here but by opting for such wide-ranging references the film risks becoming a bit indigestible. Another unusual recent documentary, The Super-8 Years, had a rich but single focus as the author Annie Ernaux looked back and commented on her married life in the 1970s as she viewed home videos. By comparison The Future Tense may seem far more ambitious and far more universal, but it ends up being over-full and a trifle exhausting and consequently much less rewarding than The Super-8 Years.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Featuring Christine Molloy, Joe Lawlor, Molly Rose Lawlor, Derry Lawlor, John Lawlor, Aiden Gillen, Kai Saysaw, Mary O’Gara, Peter Sheridan, Kevin Barry, Gary Winters, Gregg Whelan, Máirín Ní Ghadhra.
Dir Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor, Pro Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor Written by Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor, Ph Joe Lawlor, Ed Joe Lawlor, Music Stephen McKeon.
Desperate Optimists-Mubi.
89 mins. Ireland. 2022. UK Rel: 23 August 2023. Available on Mubi preceded by special screenings in Dublin and London on 17 and 20 August. No Cert.
