A deftly handled drama about recovery from trauma. Based on the life and account of a survivor of the Batalcan terrorist attack, One Year, One Night tells the story of Ramon and Celine, a couple who attended the gig that night, and who make their way through the next year processing what has happened to them.
Let me say from the get-go for anyone worried, there is nothing gratuitous about this film in the least. It does not focus on the events of that night, but on what it did to those that went through it. This is not a film with a lot of shown violence. Any flashbacks focus almost entirely on the reactions of survivors and how they coped in those critical moments.
Violence is depicted almost entirely though sound. Firstly, because this adds to the disorientation and incomplete perception Ramon and Celine had of what was happening around them, but secondly to contrast with music, which is shown throughout the film to be the sound of life, of creativity, of joy, of comfort, of engagement in living. Whether it is singing the soothing songs of childhood or letting go of fear on a crowded dancefloor, music is the sound of the being human, of being here.
In contrast to that, their trauma is the sound of an unplugged amp, the rattle of gunfire, the silence. And as they go through the next year, those sounds return as analogue for the characters’ inner emotional states. The unplugged amp representing the dissociation and paralysis that accompanies a panic attack. The hypervigilance that turns every shutting of the door, every thump of a bottle down on a table, into a gunshot. The deafening silence as we hold our breath and wait to see what comes next.
The morning after the attack tells you everything you need to know about how Ramon and Celine are processing what they’ve went through. Ramon sits down to play his guitar while Celine washes their clothes from the night before. She has went instantly into coping mode. She is taking care of everything that needs done, tidying up, doing the food shop, getting ready for work. It gives her a sense of purpose and control, and distances her from her actual feelings about the events by transforming everything into a series of items on her to-do list. Ramon instead has chosen to look inward, do something creative that is all about getting in touch with his feelings, and it brings on a panic attack.
The film follows as that dynamic is set in their relationship, Ramon vulnerable but actually processing, and Celine taking on this self-appointed role as responsible for holding it all together. His fragility feeds her need to rescue him, to be the one who has the power to make it better, until it inevitably wears her down with exhaustion. I saw a meme the other day, it said, “There is nothing glamorous about doing life alone, hyper independence is a trauma response”, and this film really brought that to the fore in my mind. Celine looks like she has it so much more together than Ramon, but the opposite is true. It takes strength to reach out for help, to let people love and support you, to let yourself fall and trust others to catch you.
A really well done film, in which the act of living and loving is the greatest act of hope.