BROKEN FLOWERS — CANNES 2005

“Broken Flowers” is not a great movie compared to the midlife crisis comedy “Sideways,” but Bill Murray’s scrupulously finessed performance resounds with the baby boomer remorse of callused souls.

Jarmusch, like Sofia Coppola (who directed Murray in “Lost In Translation”), utilizes lingering close-up shots of Murray’s defiantly emoting face.

Retired software mogul Don Johnston (Murray) snaps out of the narcissistic lifestyle he imposes over exiting girlfriend Sherry (July Delpy) when he receives an anonymous typewritten letter reporting that he fathered a son some 20 years ago. The son may now be seeking Don out as his biological father.

Johnston’s benevolent neighbor Winston (Jeffrey Wright) appoints himself to solve Don’s mystery. He assigns Don to methodically go and revisit his former lovers in search of clues. Don’s ex-girlfriend-road-trip around the Catskills is filled with gentle measures of love, lust, joy, pain, and ambivalence that all serve to spice up the emotionally atmospheric movie.

A polarized synergy builds up between Don’s distanced-but-curious male character and the powerful women from his past whom he greets with a bouquet of flowers for each. Sharon Stone is Laura, a nearly inoffensive suburban tramp with a very naughty daughter named Lolita (Alexis Dziena) who lives up to her distinction.

Frances Conroy enjoys witty scenes as Dora, a former hippy living in an environment of complete boredom with her real estate sales partner of a husband. Jarmusch makes great use of a dinner table conversation to reveal Dora’s verdict regarding any possible children. The scene is a lyrical study in economical humor and straightforward satire. 

Don steps into a pile of lesbian jealously when he visits his ex-lover Carmen (Jessica Lange) at her office as an “animal communicator.” Carmen’s vigilant assistant (Chloe Sevigny) exerts her skeptical attitude over Don. The film’s third act weakens upon Don’s last visit to his grudge-bearing ex-girlfriend Penny (Tilda Swinton) who puts a severe damper on Don’s quest for recognition via her current boyfriend’s fist. Jarmusch suffocates the scene by rushing it, and then by not allowing enough reaction time for the scene breathe. Tilda Swinton and Larry Fessenden do little with their contrived performances to bring forth any emotional colors.

“Broken Flowers” is a time capsule of an American generational zeitgeist similar to that in John Sayles’s terrific “The Return Of The Secaucus Seven.” Don Johnston’s reunion with his female generational peers provides him with a reflecting image of himself. It gives the audience an intimate view of hope and opportunity. By taking action on a deeply personal question, Don affords himself a comparison lifestyle course that answers a lot of abstruse questions that miraculously gang up to solve Don’s relationship, well, to himself.

Don’s effort to change his life from a static redundant experience is unfortunately accompanied by a pesky repetitive musical score by Ethiopian jazz artist Mulatu Astatke. The finite tunes, presented as Winston’s homemade music, that he gives Don for the trip, wear out their welcome by the middle of the movie. The music detracts from the film’s potential overall effect. “Broken Flowers” is not going to knock anyone’s socks off. It will remain, however, another entertaining testament to Bill Murray’s sly ingenuity, and also to Jim Jarmusch’s patient approach to telling a story. For those two reasons, I retract what I said about “Sideways” being better. It’s similar but different.

“Broken Flowers” is another chapter in Jim Jarmusch’s moderately impressive assortment of original minimalist cinema that makes the minimalist films of Gus Van Sant shrivel by comparison.

Rated R. 105 mins.