Siberia delves into the complex language and relationship we have with our subconscious and the meanings behind dreams. Willem Dafoe, in his sixth title with director Abel Ferrara, stars as a barman working in Siberia who suffers from hallucinations and is forced to confront his dreams and memories.
Dafoe fits this role of a tormented and lost barman like a glove. The scenes where he is forced to confront himself while hallucinating remind me of Dafoe’s dual personality in Spider-Man as the Green Goblin; but the tormenting psychological battle he undergoes in Siberia is more reminiscent of his work in The Lighthouse.
The film is, on the whole, a plodding experience that is cold in every sense of the word. While it is clear that this film is an artistic exploration of the soul, the sex scenes are really weird and felt severely out of place. The standout moments are the interesting, reflective moments with his family. The “you never loved me” confrontation with his father is a scene where we gain a sense of stillness for the first time and are given respite from memories of bizarre killer bears.
Despite not really understanding what Ferrara was trying to achieve with this film, it was beautifully shot. If you’re someone who needs to understand a film and see things in black and white – this is not the film for you. Drawing from previous films, Ferrara always aims to explore the grey. He is not a director who makes film viewing easy and never makes films for pure entertainment. The film is cleverly built on layers, one explores human nature and isolation, while the other explores aging on the outside while staying young on the inside. What makes this film great is it leaves so much space for interpretation that you will be thinking about it for days later. Ultimately, you will either love or hate this movie, I can imagine that many will be turned off by Ferrara’s bold and disturbing approach.
While this film is meant to be a representation of dreams, at times it feels more like a man sleepwalking to absolutely nowhere – but perhaps that’s what a Ferrara interpretation of soul-searching is.
