Devotion

When a couple’s child accidentally dies they start playing a game which is supposed to help them forget and start over but which instead pushes their relationship into surrealism.

Director Dan Horrigan’s film, ‘Devotion’, follows the couple’s relationship degradation and the father’s obsession with the lost daughter which blinds his mind from everything else.

Interestingly, the game the two characters play actually duplicates the father’s personality and his capacity of discerning between truth and imaginary, alienating the mother even more. Despite his intense grief, however, the father is very ‘devoted’ to his family, and his imagination taking over is only the result of his mind trying to cope with the tragedy. There are some interesting points that lead you to the idea that the man is blaming the mother for the child’s death and therefore he is trying to ‘modify’ her presence so that they could hold on to what they still have.

Dan Horrigan’s film is very twisting and you have to watch it very carefully to catch a glimpse of what is happening. Imaginary and reality twist together, the mind of the father ‘materialises’ in visions on their own, grief resonates like sound; madness is just the mind’s desperate attempt to calm the spirit. So ‘Devotion’ has its own particular lyricism.

Actors do good and music – which is very moody – sounds like a dissonance that can be put ‘on the right track’ fitting very well with the character of the father – we might go as far as supposing that it is HIS music. We will say no more and leave things to your own judging.

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