WHEN French tourist Romy (Diane Kruger) repeatedly bashes her drunk – and sexually aggressive – husband Richard (Gilles Lellouche) over the head with a motel lamp shade, you feel as though the direction of Fabienne Berthaud’s film has been laid out.
This will be the tale of a foreign outlaw on the run through small-town America. Judging by the film’s open road introduction, Sky will riff off beloved American crime stories like Thelma and Louise – and will hinge on the impossibility of Romy staying hidden with her unmissable Hollywood blonde beauty and French accent.
Yet Berthaud’s film takes an eyebrow-raising turn on the road. After a few days on the run, Romy has a change of heart and turns herself in to the police. Fortunately, Richard is alive and – after a brief hospital interaction – Romy decides to leave their sexless and broken 8-year marriage for a new life in America.
What unfolds next is a more subdued and introspective story than initially teased as Romy strikes up a relationship in Las Vegas that helps her reconnect with a world that has treated her cruelly. A journey that, similar to Andrea Arnold’s American Honey, sets the poetic beauty of nature against the human decay of rusty, poverty-stricken America. In Romy’s case, this becomes part of a healing and purpose-finding process as she continues to be troubled by nightmares about miscarriages she has suffered in the past.
Kruger – collaborating once again with Berthaud – is faultless and has a magnetic on-screen presence. A force that you cannot help but feel is wasted at times – especially when gravelly cowboy figure Diego (Norman Reedus), who looks like Lord of the Rings’ Boromir after a few rough nights in Vegas, enters the frame. Their relationship does not hit the emotional notes it feigns to – and the film suffers as a result.
Sky is still an interesting enough film – but it certainly has its limits.
Sky is available to watch now on Sky Cinema.
This was review 18/30 in April’s Close-up Culture Monthly Challenge – Female Filmmakers.
I began to watch this on Sunday morning but gave up after 10mins after realising it seemed quite thin. I’m a road movie fan, so I’ll probably get around to watching it at some point. Interesting to read your review.
I’ll be interested to hear your thoughts if you ever get back to it. Thin is a fair description for sure. Thanks for reading!