When documentary makers turn the camera on themselves and their family the results can lean towards the fine art of naval-gazing - Michel Gondry’s The Thorn In The Heart has limited appeal to those whose surname isn’t Gondry - but first time filmmaker Stéphanie Argerich manages to make her story universal despite a unusual childhood and having a famous pianist for a mother.
As Stéphanie Argerich gives birth to a son, she reflects on her relationship with her mother. She grew up in awe of Martha Argerich, calling her mother "supernatural" and that she was "the daughter of a goddess." With her pianist father Stephen Kovacetich not around Martha opted for a communal life, the parental duties shared between au pairs and young musicians in her circle. When Stéphanie was taken on tour, Martha would play cruel jokes on her, like pretending to leave her on a train: "like a cat playing with a mouse." She describes the hold her mother had on her to be "soft but paralysing."
Despite Stéphanie insisting that her mother was ‘maternal’, there seems to be some unresolved issues and the director attempts to pull her mother into close encounters, following her around with a camera. But when the questions veer towards the emotional, like maybe regretting not being around as much as she should have been, or the success (or lack of it) of juggling artistry and parenthood, and her abandonment of a half-sister in an orphanage in Switzerland, Martha is always reluctant to get into it. Yet despite all this, there is no rancour in Stéphanie’s voice, sounding like she’s delivering the lines with a nostalgic smile.
Oddly, the expected resentment and frustration is directed towards her father. Having moved out when she was two, Stephen confesses to having a 'difficult time' with his daughter (he gave the documentary its original title, Bloody Daughter, when first released in 2012), and on the rare occasion Stéphanie steps from behind the camera to actively engage with the goings on, like when they try to rectify her birth certificate so Kovacetich is named as father, she can’t hide her disappointment when he doesn’t understand how important it is to her.
Using old interviews and concert footage to underscore how respected her parents were, it his the home videos, shot by a young Stéphanie on the camcorder her father bought for her in Japan, that ensures that Argerich remains personal, intimate but relatable.
