A Real Pain: Jesse Eisenberg- Kieran Culkin, Duo Major (Critique)
A guided tour of Poland in the footsteps of two dysfunctional cousins in the footsteps of their Jewish roots.
Who better than Jesse Eisenberg, anxious inveterate, to tickle this share of discomfort that governs social relationships? By venturing into a reflection on his Judaïté, the actor tritures his own insecurity to invoke the intimate, arm arm arm with Kieran Culkin. Together, the two actors mute in David and Benji, cousins who fly away for Warsaw to participate in an excursion to the Shoah in tribute to their grandmother from Polish immigration. Then succeed visits to memorial monuments and harmless discussions, surmounted here and there simple happiness: sneak on a roof, smoking cannabis, fraud on the train, wander the streets … A purified film with European tone, which is essentially based on the antagonic dynamics which circulate between the two actors, respectively sensational. The irritable Eisenberg, devoid of esteem of him and terrified by spontaneity, facing the carefree Culkin, a charismatic free electron whose temerity conceals a deep malaise. The friction of the two can only cause sparks, which here take the form of exchanges loaded with resentments (and impeccable writing). This duality continues in the very subject of the film, which navigates between the duty of collective memory while making a point of honor to celebrate the individuality of each. But always with a single subject in the background: that of suffering, and of speech which cauterizes its wounds.
Of Jesse EINSENBERG. With Jesse Eisenberg, Kieran Culkin, Will Sharpe … Duration 1h30. Released February 26, 2025
