Putting the pieces together in this edition of Weekend Watching.
Puzzle (Marc Turtletaub, 2018)
Puzzle sets up its heroine's plight in an elegant, if also quite sad way. Agnes is a housewife hosting a large party at her house. While her husband Louie is on the couch drinking with friends and others are casually socializing around the home, Agnes is busy making sure everything runs smoothly. When she mentions bringing out the cake soon, we get the idea it might be her husband's birthday, or perhaps one of her sons'. But the cake she presents to everyone gathered around the table has her own name on it. She's slaving away at her own birthday party.
If this premise about a wife and mother struggling to break free from the doldrums of domesticity sounds overly familiar, it probably is. But it certainly finds new life in the specificity of the world (and people) Agnes finds herself escaping to. One of the presents she receives is a jigsaw puzzle. Though she initially puts it away, she's drawn to it and, as it turns out, so brilliant at it that she can complete large puzzles in no time. To satiate her urge for more puzzles, she finds a specialty store in the city to buy more, also to find a champion competitive puzzler's ad looking for a new partner.
If you've been reading these reviews for a while, you'll know I love it when movies go into process, examining the minutiae of how people do the things they're good at. Agnes is certainly a savant at puzzle solving, but Robert, the semi-recluse with the ad introduces her to his technique and strategies, honing her skills to maximize her innate talent. Before sitting down, he says, you must walk around the table to get a broader perspective of the pieces. It allows you to see the pieces in a different light, noticing different colors and shapes you might not have noticed from your original point of view. It's not difficult to see that Agnes needs to apply this approach in her life as well.
Her relationship, too, with Robert feels quite nuanced. It exists in that nebulous and tentative space between friendship and something more. He is constantly watching the news and every time Agnes arrives at his house, he's alerting her to some international tragedy, causing Agnes herself to be more interested in world events. She also allows him to open up to more possibilities after the dissolution of his own marriage.
Agnes's flowering also has a trickle-down effect, forcing her to realize that one of her sons, Ziggy, is too living a stifled life and should be following his own path. Working at his father's garage, Ziggy feels he has no purpose and is good at nothing, before admitting he has a passion for cooking. To the regressive views off his father, it isn't a manly job. Of course the slightest change in routine or any idea out of the box completely throws Louie out of sorts and that certainly include what to him feels like Agnes's silly interests in puzzles.
The ending, which I won't spoil here, doesn't necessarily glide in for the easy landing. Sure, as expected, Agnes comes to learn the hard lessons of years of stagnation. But there's a slight twist to how we might imagine everything turns out and Agnes has to make decisions that are probably more difficult than meets the eye. At first I was left unsatisfied by this, but upon further reflection, I think it's closer to what's right for her own growth. Because by that time, she finally realizes her only obligation has always been simply to herself.
Puzzle (2018) is available on Alexander Street Press.
