‘Suspended Time’ Review – A Pandemic Film That Waxes Poetic And Flounders

The pandemic remains one of the few global life-altering events that we as a society do not talk about, as if it never happened. It is understandable the desire to memoryhole this horrific time, which uprooted daily life, to say nothing of the psychological and health impacts it wrought. Still, there have been a few attempts to dissect this tumultuous time and even understand it. Suspended Time attempts to understand what people went through during the pandemic, but through an artsy lens. The effect is bold but falls into a quagmire of pretention and wistfulness. Bottom line: a pandemic film that looks poetically at the mask.

Suspended Time crafts a unique premise for understanding what life was like during the onset of the global pandemic. The film spotlights quarantine life among a family. COVID protocols are fast becoming the norm as film director Paul Berger (Vincent Macaigne) returns to his childhood home in the provincial Chevreuse Valley. There he hunkers down with his documentary filmmaker girlfriend Carole (Nora Hamzawi), his music journalist brother Etienne (Micha Lescot), and Etienne’s new girlfriend Morgan (Nine d’Urso). At the same time, they try to reconcile family problems and find internal peace and purpose.

There is an underlying comedic element to the film that will either click or leave the audience scratching their heads. Filmmaker Olivier Assayas is putting his signature on this historical event, but doing so in a way that becomes a study in existentialism. He uses the framing of how we all became housebound in the spring of 2020 and traded online shopping for in-person outings. The conversation between the characters attempts to unpack the heightened insanity of the era, but never goes as far as this year’s Eddington did with the subject.

The narrative, in a way, takes a kaleidoscope approach to the pandemic era. Not in a way that downplays or makes the matter lighthearted. Instead, this film uses the pandemic framing to explore the wily and reflective brain of an artist. There are squabbles between the players, particularly as it relates to family tensions and the nature of the legacy. However, the focus ultimately keeps on Paul. This is his journey, and it becomes a nerotic exposé that takes on a whimsical flair.

Ultimately, these characters are pontificating back and forth in what feels more like a college bull session. Under the same roof for quarantine, the talks become an artist’s den. And herein lies the film’s downfall. Outside of setting up four people in the same house for some time, the movie never makes use of an outsized situation. Instead, it progresses into a homily on life beyond the screens and the wants of the material world.

Paul is on a journey that sends him away from his filmmaking crutch. He is back in his boyhood home, reconnecting with books and works of art, yet we are left asking to what end? The film itself struggles with this question, but in a larger abstract: What are we doing here? Is this a meditation on a struggling artist? Is it a prolonged discourse on peace of mind? Is it an examination of how the pandemic drove us indoors and then into our own subconscious? We never know, because the film seems more interested in suspending any of those thoughts in favor of long walks in the enchanted forest, chasing forgotten youth.

Fairly or not, I compare Suspended Time to Eddington. The latter works because it pays more than lip service to the pandemic and its effects. The story delves deeper into the psyche, and while it is a strictly Americanized account, the themes of isolation, loneliness, and slippery slopes are universal. Here in Suspended Time, we are left wanting. The film feels more passive, instead taking a more wistful and highbrow account of quarantine and social distancing.

Now, granted, the pandemic itself is a difficult era. It is easy to understand why we might wish to memoryhole the event. However, by ignoring it or using it as an attempt to wax poetic, we are merely downplaying it rather than understanding it and, by extension, ourselves.

Suspended Time will debut at Film at Lincoln Center in New York on August 15, 2025, courtesy of Music Box Films. The film will expand to additional markets in the following weeks.