Symphoria sounds an ancient Greek term not suited for a film title, but Catherine Dao‘s recent feature uses it to capture an estranged revenge/sacrifice love story. An alcoholic and son of a billionaire, Shawn ( Tyler Wolfe), seem to be behind Samantha’s overdose, whose mother is later revealed to have a sinister plan to take revenge. The film shows Shawn’s path to recovery and salvation at the expense of his mentor anguish and final act of self-annihilation, which took place in the context of a Chinese and bicultural setting. As the title suggested, sometimes reactions, human interactions, and cinematic roles could turn deadly.
The opening scene of a periodic table and captions to Symphoria could intrigue the viewers early on. Next, the camera pan Shawn’s room and his bed in which an overdosed girl is shot and framed. The science-centered plot takes its course in seven episodes named after stages of scientific method/experiment. First, Shawn’s dad chooses Professor Dalton to help Shawn recover his challenge. Not surprisingly, she is a Chemistry professor, and Shawn is groomed in a lab to leave bad habits and train his mind, intellect, and body. The duo’s superb acting, foregrounding music, and camera positions warm the viewers of a romance developing. Then, the lingering continues, but through this, the film’s main themes, family, love during duress, good and bad personal chemistry, and toxic relationship are more portrayed. Shawn plays more of a slave, but ironically he recovers, and the unpredictable events open his eyes to the reality around him.
The other side of the story, which is the Chinese side of Professor Dalton’s life, needs further analysis too. From early on, the mise-en-scene, music, costumes, dialogues, and side acting highlight a cinematic space that span another culture. The gap of why Professor Dalton acts so strangely is filled by depicting her background, family life, daughter death, and traditional culture. It could be interpreted that Shawn’s attraction is typical of a white man drawn into exotic Asian women, but the unfolding of the love story changes this take. In a scene where Shawn’s father uncovers their illicit affair, the viewer is convinced of monetary motives, but the twist of the story, which is well-positioned in the plot arc, shows that early readings were simplistic. In Shawn’s eye, his professor has an erotic body and sharp mind, but behind this fantasy, there is a deadly Chemistry and fatal attraction symbolized by D2O in the film visual aesthetic. The portrayal of other side effects of this twisted relationship is noteworthy too. Love comes with death, jealousy with ejection and revenge; age difference and romance seem not too unproblematic; it seems in the world of Symphoria that there is a new type of Chemistry possible, accentuated by the film’s techniques and Catherine Dao’s stellar performance.
In the end, one may still wonder about the film’s finale and Professor Dalton’s final sacrifice. Was she beyond repair as she voiced, or any scientific experiment with some human influence is destined fatally? The closing scene may bring some catharsis to our eyes that she finally freed herself of the suffering of losing her daughter and Shawn transformed, the film reached its goal to jolt and deceive us with the jump-cuts and heavy symbolism. Symphoria may need to be watched a few times to be fully grasped; it foretells complicated human relations in the age of post-modernity and hyper-diversity.
Grade: B+
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