Bunker

Writer-director Florian Zeller’s follow-up to The Father and The Son brings fresh life to the marriage-on-the-rocks sub-genre with the inspired casting of real-life couple Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem. Zeller wrote the film for the Spanish actors and while the most obvious precedent is Eyes Wide Shut, Bunker is markedly different piece to Kubrick’s final film. Sex is never discussed but the probing question of how and why people change is explored in with depth and maturity. There’s even a few laughs, too.

Bardem plays successful architect Miguel; Cruz is a similarly established book editor named Sofia. The pair live in a beautiful modernist home in London with their two daughters, having moved from Madrid years ago to help boost Miguel’s career. Although both are generally satisfied with their professional lot, Sofia puts herself forward to run the fiction section at her publisher at the suggestion of a friendly colleague, but is rejected because they want a Brit for the job – as she suspected she would be. This, and the arrival of young though perceptive novelist James (Patrick Schwarzenegger) on promotional tour, causes her to evaluate what really matters. Miguel, meanwhile, has a mysterious job offer from a secretive tech billionaire (Paul Dano): a huge fee to design an equally mammoth bunker in Hawaii. 

Naturally, Bardem and Cruz have great chemistry and their scenes together crackle

Domestic matters are also thorny. Neighbour Toby (Stephen Graham) has smashed a hole into their back wall to fit a window that would allow him to see into their garden. When Toby finally meets the pair, he’s openly resentful of them moving into his neighbourhood, given that locals have been priced out. Although he relents on the window, it might not be the last of the matter.

Naturally, Bardem and Cruz have great chemistry and their scenes together crackle with meaning. Can Miguel consider leaving the family for months to work on a project that has no public good and serves only a billionaire? Has Sofia been cheating and if not, why has she become distant? Zeller’s script delves into relationship dynamics with sharpness and it certainly feels real. Elsewhere, Graham plays Toby with an unsettling strangeness and Dano is suitably paranoid. Schwarzenegger is particularly memorable. When James talks about life, we can see Sofia listening intently. It may not have been him that fully caused Sofia’s evident unhappiness but he’s a catalyst. 

An unexpected and terrifying incident in the final act stretches credulity, but Zeller’s third film is a thoughtful drama with real wit and intelligence.

Bunker premiered at the Venice Film Festival.