Morvern Callar (2002)
Morvern Callar (2002), directed by Lynne Ramsay and adapted from Alan Warner’s 1995 novel, is about a young woman, Morvern, who wakes up on Christmas to find her boyfriend dead by suicide, having left his novel, a mix tape, some money and some instructions on his computer. However, Morvern sticks her own name on his manuscript, disposes of his body, and engages on a sonic and actual journey of meditation. I hesitate to call it "discovery," which would be too simple -- Morvern is a very introverted person, who works in a grocery store and appears to have few friends or relatives. And much of the film has no dialogue, opting to show rather than tell what she is doing and, I suppose, feeling. With her somewhat dim good-time friend, she attends some house parties, goes on holiday, and eventually comes to a new place. Mysteriously, evasively, hard-to-characterize-l-y. She's the girl who pays for a vacation, but doesn't actually relax or enjoy herself. She's just going through the motions, trying to find a way forward.
There's a lot of toplessness. but it's not really sexual -- like most other aspects of the film, it can hard to tell what it is saying or what it means. I mean, people have bodies, right? Does it have to mean anything? This is in many ways the whole movie. Morton has an incredibly expressive face, but you're not always sure what she's expressing. Is she upset? observing? Simply choosing to withhold herself? Hard to say. Roger Ebert claimed this film has no plot -- it does, actually. But the plot is more about the limits of knowing, and the contemplation that comes with a situation you can't talk about. Not that you get the idea that Morvern would, if she even could.
Great soundtrack, with which the filmmaker communicates Morvern's mysterious inner life. Recommended.