Film review: Memoria
‘Beautiful and mysterious’ arthouse film starring Tilda Swinton
“Have you ever looked a cow in the eye?” If you watch Andrea Arnold’s documentary, “you certainly will”, said Clarisse Loughrey in The Independent. Shot over four years on a dairy farm in Kent, this surprisingly gripping, largely wordless film allocates much of its 94-minute runtime to a Holstein-Friesian called Luma. We watch her give birth. We watch her chew cud. We watch her get “hooked up to a milking machine, its nozzles splayed out like the heads of hungry leeches” – and then “we watch those processes again. More birth; more milk.” The film is “grimy and unvarnished”; it captures the “banal cruelty” inflicted on dairy cows – but there are moments of poetry, too: “at one point, Arnold even catches Luma gazing dreamily up towards the stars”.
“This is certainly not the first film to make the point that industrial farming and animal welfare are uneasy bedfellows,” said Wendy Ide in The Observer. Yet this “important” documentary “encourages an intimacy and emotional connection with its bovine subject that is rarely achieved elsewhere”. Shots have a “handheld urgency, the lens positioned at udder and eye level”; tellingly, it’s a good 45 minutes before we “even glimpse a blade of grass”. It’s a bleak film, and a challenging one, said Deborah Ross in The Spectator. Why would I watch a cow for 94 minutes? “What does this cow do that’s so interesting?” But you end up caring, and the finale, when it comes, is hard to bear. The trouble is, vegans already know about industrial dairy farming, and the rest won’t seek out this film, because they prefer to look away. All I can say is that the “next time I went to put milk in my tea, I did feel Luma’s big eyes upon me. So it is absolutely haunting in that way.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Pros and cons of solar energy
Pros and cons Solar power could become the primary source of electricity worldwide by 2050 – but there are still clouds in the forecast
By Rebecca Messina, The Week UK Published
-
Post Office's Capture software to be reviewed over 'glitches'
Speed Read Solicitor representing accused postmasters says flaws in the IT system follow 'very similar pattern' to Horizon
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
How would we know if World War Three had started?
Today's Big Question With conflicts in Ukraine, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific, the 'spark' that could ignite all-out war 'already exists'
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
6 serene homes in Vermont
Features Featuring a four-level Shaker barn in Hartland and a Scandinavian-inspired home in Stowe
By The Week US Published
-
Amanda Montell's 6 favorite books that will expand your knowledge
Feature The linguist recommends works by Mary Roach, Alice Carrière, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Rowan Beaird recommends 6 compelling books from the 1950s
Feature The author recommends works by Patricia Highsmith, Shirley Jackson, and more
By The Week US Published
-
6 spacious homes with great rec rooms
Feature Featuring a suspended fireplace in Arizona and a marine-themed home in Maine
By The Week Published
-
Recipe: gnocchi di spinaci (spinach gnocchi)
The Week Recommends Forget the potatoes for this gnocchi made of the 'classic combination' of spinach and ricotta
By The Week UK Published
-
Stephen Graham Jones' 6 scary books with deeper meanings
Feature The best-selling author recommends works by Stephen King, Sara Gran, and more
By The Week US Published
-
6 stylish homes on the top floor
Feature Featuring a 1925 art deco high-rise in San Francisco and a factory-turned-home in Los Angeles
By The Week US Published
-
The Anxious Generation: US psychologist Jonathan Haidt's 'urgent and essential' new book
The Week Recommends Haidt calls out 'the Great Rewiring of Childhood' phenomenon
By The Week UK Published