Cinematic universes are often associated with grand spectacles of the superhero variety. Fostering images of multiverses and characters tangentially connected over a series of films, one thinks about expanse rather than intimate. However, it is the latter that filmmaker Sofia Bohdanowicz is fascinated with as she continues to explore the Audrey Benac cinematic universe in her latest film Measures for a Funeral.
The sixth film in the Benac series, Bohdanowicz once again ponders the nature of art, the meaning of the artifacts left behind when a person dies, and how it all shapes her own family’s past.
Picking the ripe fruit of history that hangs from her own family tree, Bohdanowicz’s film explores the life of Canadian violinist Kathleen Parlow who also was a mentor and teacher of the director’s grandfather. Measures for a Funeral finds inquisitive protagonist Audrey Benac (Deragh Campbell, the director’s frequent collaborator) struggling to cope with the various stresses swirling around in her life. Her thesis paper deadline is in a few short weeks and Benac still hasn’t figured out how to turn her copious amounts of research, on Parlow’s life, into something tangible. Furthermore, her ailing and manipulative mother is knocking on death’s door and its weighing her conflicted emotions about it are weighing her down like an anchor.
The fact that Benac has also recently broken up with her boyfriend of five years only adds to the fog of suppressed emotions that the young woman walks through.
Weaving together information about Parlow’s life and accomplishments with Benac’s personal challenges, Bohdanowicz creates a work that blends genres together. It is not only a drama that is steeped in elements of documentary, but also, at times, plays like a ghost story. One where Parlow’s thoughts, conveyed in the film via letter and archival interviews, hang in the air like an entity hovering over the young researcher.
The ghostly elements provide the film with some of its most fascinating moments as Campbell’s physical gifts as a performer are on full display. Using Benac as a vessel to merge the past and present, with the protagonist often reenacting poses from photos and stories while visiting Parlow’s former home, Bohdanowicz bring interesting layers to her portrait of the musician’s life.
In resurrecting a history long buried, Bohdanowicz raises some intriguing questions about the artifacts that are left behind and the value we place on them. An act that is often based more on our beliefs and experiences that we transpose on the objects rather than what they might have actual meant to the artist themselves.
The quest to decipher the emotions that artifacts, art, and the past can evoke, is both intriguing and frustrating in Bohdanowicz’s film. Just as Benac finds herself tangled in a tarp in Parlow’s home, Measures for a Funeral wraps itself in the canvas of memory. The parallels Bohdanowicz’s construct between Benac and Parlow are fascinating to untangled. However, due to the ambitious nature of the film, there are moments where the narrative feels plodding.
It takes a long time for the full impact of Benac’s inner conflict to truly be felt. The lengthy run time, and the fact that Parlow’s life is so interesting that it almost overshadows the narrative beats, only further accentuates this. Although Bohdanowicz’s overly long film feels as if it is floating aimlessly at times, Measures for a Funeral does stick its landing.
Giving the audience front row seats to a concerto involving a violinist that Benac interviews, the film allows the power of the music to wash over the protagonist and the viewers. In providing a sense of catharsis that only beautiful art can provide, Bohdanowicz manages to pull the seemingly loose strings together. Measures for a Funeral may not be as cohesive as Bohdanowicz designs it to be but it does get one thinking not only of Parlow’s important place in Canadian history and the ways art allows us to process our emotions.
