Proxima

An emotive family drama that will disappoint those hoping for sci-fi bombast

Anyone who sits on top of the largest hydrogen-oxygen fuelled system in the world, knowing they're going to light the bottom, and doesn't get a little worried, does not fully understand the situation.

• Cpt. John Young (commander of the Columbia for STS-1 in 1981, the inaugural spaceflight of NASA's Space Shuttle program)

Q: Aside from the obvious differences, how do you assess the differences in men and women astronauts?

A: Aside from the obvious differences, I don't think there are any.

• Sally Ride (the first American woman in space) answering a question at a Challenger crew press conference for STS-7 in 1983

Written by Alice Winocour and Jean-Stéphane Bron, and directed by Winocour, Proxima is the story of a mother and daughter trying to cope with impending separation. The fact that the mother is an astronaut and that the separation will result from a year-long mission to Mars is very much secondary. Instead, we're presented with something more universal and relatable – the often contradictory responsibilities one has to one's profession and one's family. At the same time, this (unapologetically feminist) film looks at the demands placed on a woman in a male dominated field where machoism counts for something. More akin to "science fact" films such as Philip Kaufman's The Right Stuff (1983) and Damien Chazelle's First Man (2018) than recent science-fiction work such as Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja's Aniara (2018) or James Gray's Ad Astra (2019), Proxima is a quiet story that maps in great detail the sheer force of will it takes to get into the condition necessary to go space. And although the narrative does sag in a couple of places, and Winocour frustratingly abandons realism in a crucial scene towards the end, Proxima is brilliantly acted throughout. It certainly won't appeal to those looking for the grandiosity or existentialism of...

'Proxima' isn't a visually flashy film, it's naturalistic and almost documentary-like in its approach - the end credits are even accompanied by photos of real-life female astronauts. But this only enhances the intimacy of this earthbound drama about a high-achieving woman's trauma at the thought of leaving her young daughter behind her.

• Jake Watt

Read Jake's full article... https://www.maketheswitch.com.au/article/review-proxima-an-earthbound-drama-about-motherhood

I was really disappointed with this rather dull, dreary documentary-style story about "Sarah" (Eva Green) who has dreamed since she was a child of going into space. When her opportunity arrives, she must face the rigours of the training, segregation and quarantine which hit her much harder than she had anticipated - and cause her to miss her young daughter, the rather engaging Zélie Boulant ("Stella") dreadfully. The problem with this film is that aside from some pictures of the Kazakh spaceport and some weight-water training, it could be about absolutely anything. Any mother (or, indeed father) who has to dedicate themself unconditionally to a job might reasonably feel the same senses of loneliness and despair and though Eva Green (or rather, her eyes) do manage to convey some of the sheer exhaustion her character might be feeling during this extensive period of preparation, again it could be for an ultra-marathon or a cross-channel swim! It's been a while since I've seen Matt Dillon on screen, and he adds nothing to this vanity project for polyglots.