Trailer: This Must Be The Place
Photo: This Must Be The Place
Photo: This Must Be The Place
Photo: This Must Be The Place
Photo: This Must Be The Place
Photo: This Must Be The Place
Photo: This Must Be The Place

This Must Be The Place

Rate it! Release Date: 5 April 2012

This movie is from our archive and is not currently screening.

In This Must Be The Place, Sean Penn plays Cheyenne, a bored, retired, wealthy American goth rock star living in Dublin (and looking a lot like Robert Smith). He's a complex character, bumbling around town with friends and living in an enormous mansion with his down-to-earth wife of 35 years, Jane (Frances McDormand.) When he learns of the death of his father - who he has been estranged from for over 30 years - he returns to America to embark on a road trip that will change him forever. His quest is driven by the revelation that his father was humiliated in Auschwitz at the hands of an SS officer, who may still be alive and living in America. Cheyenne's search takes him across the heartland of a country now foreign to him, encountering some great people as he is reawakened to the possibility of reconciliation and self-discovery. This is a rare film that is able to mix stunning originality and elegance with real humanity. Penn is riveting, beguiling and downright perplexing in a performance that reminds you why he is one of the greats. Featuring a terrific soundtrack with music and lyrics by David Byrne and Will Oldham, This Must Be The Place is a genuinely unique film full of warmth, humour, profundity and lots of eye-liner.

Official Selection Cannes Film Festival 2012

Information

Cast
Sean Penn, Frances McDormand, Judd Hirsch

Director
Paolo Sorrentino

Genre
Comedy, Drama, Foreign

Classification
M, 114 mins

Consumer Advice
Sexual references, coarse language and mature themes

Country of Origin
UK, USA

Distributor
Hopscotch Films

Official Website
http://www.hopscotchfilms.com.au/catalogue/thismustbetheplace

Industry Reviews

David Stratton
ABC - At The Movies

Cheyenne, SEAN PENN, is a former rock star; he lives off his royalties in Dublin with his wife, Jane, FRANCES MCDORMAND, and, at the age of 50, still dresses 'Goth', with long, unkempt hair, eye make-up and lipstick. When he hears that his father, with whom he had not been on good terms, is dying in America he travels there and discovers that the old man had been obsessed with hunting down the Nazi who tormented him during the Holocaust. Cheyenne borrows a car and drives West to continue the search his father began.

This is the first English language film from Italian director Paolo Sorrentino whose 2008 IL DIVO, though it didn't get a cinema release here, is one of the best Italian films of recent years. With THIS MUST BE THE PLACE, Sorrentino deftly mixes way-out humour with intense drama. As Cheyenne keeps saying, "Something's wrong here - I don't know what it is". After the early establishing scenes in Dublin, the film becomes a classic road movie, filled with digressions and comic asides, such as cameos from David Byrne and Harry Dean Stanton, who plays the man who invented wheels for suitcases.

This won't be to everyone's taste, as the mixture of moods - especially with the Holocaust connection - can be unsettling at times - but it's beautifully made and acted, very original, and conceived on a grand scale.

ABC - At The Movies
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