Puzzle by Polly Mann - Nine out of 10

Puzzle by Polly Mann

Nine out of 10

This motion picture has enchanted this viewer not with its fabulous plot, the fantastic action scenes, but with the extraordinary performances of the lead artists and the phenomenal atmosphere of the feature.

Kelly Macdonald is splendid as Agnes, apparently an ordinary housewife, who spends almost all her time caring for her home, cleaning, cooking – when she does not forget, as happens in one tense scene – and all the other numerous chores that pass unremarked generally, although her son, Ziggy, would protest at one stage and prove that he knows his mother does multiple things during the day.

The protagonist is married to Louie, a spouse that has some merits, although he does not seem to appreciate how lucky he is, manifests what psychologists call Hedonic Adaptation – a phenomenon characteristic in various degrees to all humans – and does not notice anymore the work of his partner, on the contrary, he is aghast when there is one slip of the mind.

Louie works with his son in a garage, but the latter does not like what he is doing and would much rather pursue a career in cooking, project in which he would be encouraged by his mother, who clashes with the retrograde, obtuse father who sees this line of work as “unmanly” and even protests when his wife indicates that the best chefs in the world are men and is challenged on the matter – “how do you know that” – there is an obvious answer in this day and age – google it on the internet.

Agnes has a hobby that she is very good at, completing puzzles with tremendous skill and speed, answering an ad in the newspaper to further this line of interest and meeting with Robert, a man who lives alone, since his wife has left, passionate about this game and willing to participate in the national competition.

Irrfan Khan plays the character with majesty, glorious talent – indeed, this must be repeated and emphasized:

Puzzle is an exquisite, great joy to watch because the artists offer a splendid, charming, almost ecstatic, serene, Zen performance at times that seems to emanate and enchant the public…at least it worked wonders for the undersigned.

Robert is the one who is engaging, joking, trying to communicate with Agnes, although the latter can be awkward – when she first arrives at his house, she has a weird cross painted on her forehead, because it is Ash Wednesday – and searching the internet we can indeed find that this is what believers of this faith do on that special occasion.

The woman is reserved, discouraging the jokes – she says she has no sense of humor – reluctant to get closer to the man that will only be her partner in this competition, in the doubles section, a religious person who lies about her training sessions, claiming she has to go every week to see someone who has a broken leg.

There are even some confrontations between the puzzlers, after the heroine learns that he is an inventor, she attacks his obsession with the puzzles – “why do you do these silly puzzles when you could do much more, you are just a bored rich man who wastes his time”- but Robert retorts with a very sophisticated, philosophical reply.

He talks about the meaning of life, the fact that we cannot control our destiny, he met her by chance, there is nothing he or anyone can do about the things that happen, only puzzles are something we can admire once we have completed them, they are even better than love in some way…

There are quite a few gems like that, insight into various deep, interesting ideas, including Buddhism and vegan attitude, with an example of a monk who does not interfere to save a life, with the thinking that he must not interfere, then the purity and innocence of the heroine is remarkable and overwhelming.

Robert falls in love with her, but she is very shy, seraphic and limited to their game, training and encourages very little conversation, hurrying to get back home to cook meals for her family, up to the point where she is also falling under the spell of an interesting man, who sees so much more in her than a cook and the woman who keeps a house in order.

The eccentric man even sees deep inside the mind of this Wonder Woman, saying that the reason why she does these puzzles – with such amazing talent – is that she can see ahead so many moves, she has a brilliant mind and is bored and dissatisfied with the rest of her life – something which to some extent is true and is brought to light by events related with this training, which has to be revealed to her husband and then a clash ensues, especially after she is so absorbed in solving a puzzle one day that she has not prepared the meal and furthermore, she has not bought anything from the grocers…a calamity!!

After Agnes kisses Robert, she says “this is the worst thing she ever did”, confessing to this mysterious man that she loves him – making the audience wish that somehow she would choose him over the spouse who claims it is the end of the world when he does not have his dinner ready, or she encourages one of their sons to pursue a career as a chef and study the culinary art.

There is another breakdown after they discuss the future of their two grown up boys, the mother suggesting they sell a piece of land they have and the cabin to a reluctant father that wants to keep fishing there, only to change his mind and without consulting his spouse making some announcements that are crucial and annoy her with the lack of consultation.

Puzzle is a spectacular film, with the usual paraphernalia of motion pictures that offer Much Ado About Nothing, with all their dazzling special effects, car chases and Transformers killing Avengers or vice versa.