Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem shine in Zeller’s uneven ‘Bunker'
Daily Sabah · Nagihan Haliloğlu ·
Beneath the polished walls of a seemingly perfect marriage, Florian Zeller’s 'Bunker' explores the fragile boundaries between intimacy,...
I was first made aware of the film "Bunker" by the video of Penelope Cruz wiping tears from her eyes as she witnessed a standing ovation and an interview where Cruz and Javier Bardem talk about playing a married couple on screen. So great was the buzz around the film that I had to recheck whether it won any prizes – it has not.
"Bunker" opens promisingly and familiarly enough. The characters of Bardem and Cruz, the happily married couple Miguel and Sofia, are telling the story of how they met. Miguel is leading the charge and Sofia observing him. It is naturally a delight to see the close-up of both actors’ faces, real faces that have not been sculpted to look like all the other faces in Hollywood. The scene is promising also because it is almost a repeat of Sorogoyen’s "The Beloved," where Bardem’s character is speaking to his estranged daughter. In both cases, it is clear that the man Bardem plays is acting, trying to cover up his past crimes with his charm. While in "The Beloved" it turns out his crime is making life hell for his daughter’s mother, in "Bunker," we learn that it is him putting his career first and carrying his family from Madrid to London.
The first part of "Bunker" sets the scene for a perfect marriage and perfect family, which, of course, must be tested for our enjoyment. Miguel is a prize-winning architect, and so the interiors are beautiful and his study is decorated with utmost taste. Sofia works at a sleek publishing house where she expects to be promoted. They have two beautiful girls and a cat named Blue (at the London Film Festival there was another pet named Blue, a dog in "Possible Love"), which fulfills its symbolic function of representing the forces in and outside the bunker – the family’s home.
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