The Tear’s Thing is scatterbrained, though, as it tries to cover Florence’s gamut of emotions upon seeing Sacha. Confusion gives way to acceptance, which gives way to anger, then romance, then anger again. To be fair, it would be tough for any film to succinctly convey this emotional jumble in a manner that doesn’t make its protagonist come across as schizophrenic.
Florence is enraged and screaming at Sacha during their initial shooting lesson. After storming out of the session, Florence calms down upon accepting Sacha’s offer of a ride home. Florence puts the moves on Sacha in the woods, but then she is angry again after another shooting a round with Sacha. Later, Florence is putting the moves on Sacha again at a campfire. She’s all over the place! While that may be true of Florence internally, externally, it paints her as a hot mess.
“…Poésy sees the artillery as a metaphor for releasing the rage of an emotionally devastating break-up.”
In a nice creative touch, director Clémence Poésy sees the artillery as a metaphor for releasing the rage of an emotionally devastating break-up. The explosion of violence offered by shooting the guns is cathartic for Florence, and Sacha’s presence as the instructor might be her indirectly schooling Florence on how to get over their relationship. Poésy presents quite a few possible interpretations of her story, and the dynamic between the characters in the narrative illustrates the fantasy of showing up one’s ex. Both lead actresses admirably perform their difficult roles, roles that are essentially externalizing the swirling of internal passions.
There is so much raw material in The Tear’s Thing to constitute an in-depth examination of heartbreak and recovery. It would be interesting if Poésy could flesh out this scenario and, perhaps, clarify Florence’s precarious state of mind and Sacha’s role (or former role) in her life. That would be an emotional roller coaster I could take a ride on.
The Tear’s Thing screened during 2020 We Are One: A Global Film Festival.
"…a relationship is a beautiful thing. It’s getting over it after it ends that sucks."
