Puzzle Dvd

Puzzle is a 2018 American drama film directed by Marc Turtletaub and written by Oren Moverman and Polly Mann, based on the 2010 Argentine film of the same name. It stars Kelly Macdonald, Irrfan Khan (in his final English-language role before his death in 2020), David Denman, Bubba Weiler, Austin Abrams, Liv Hewson, and follows a stay-at-home mother who enters a puzzle building competition. The film premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Sony Pictures Classics then acquired the worldwide rights to the film, and released it on July 27, 2018.

Plot

Agnes is a middle-class suburban homemaker and mother of two grown sons, Ziggy and Gabe, who seem stuck with her husband Louie in a monotonous routine. She serves her family devotedly and without argument. After baking her own cake, and serving and cleaning up after her own birthday party, she finds herself drawn to a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle among all the gifts she received. She likes it so much she travels to New York City to visit a shop where she can find more complex puzzles.

At the shop Agnes notices an advertisement that leads her to Robert, a former puzzle tournament champion who is looking for a new partner to compete in a championship tournament the following month. Robert is a wealthy and reclusive inventor whose wife and puzzle partner has recently left him, and Agnes is intrigued by their differences. He is surprised by her unorthodox approach to solving puzzles and invites her to meet twice a week to prepare for the national tournament, saying she is a gift from God.

Agnes tells her family she needs to help an aunt who has broken her leg, lying every day while trying to help her eldest son discern what kind of life he really wants. She is frustrated by her husband’s resistance and shocks her family as she begins to assert herself, declaring that she is going to the tournament. She keeps her relationship with Robert secret as she falls in love with him.

After Agnes misses dinner with the family Louie finally confronts her and she confesses that she had sex with Robert, her puzzle partner. Ziggy makes her breakfast the day of the tournament, and she and Robert go on to win. Both sons cheer her on while Louie still struggles with how she has changed.

After clearing out the family’s old vacation home, which Louie has agreed to sell so the boys can pursue their dreams, Agnes decides not to go to Brussels with Robert for the international championship. Instead, she boards a train to Montreal, going her own way.

Cast

Kelly Macdonald as Agnes, Louie’s wife and mother to Ziggy and Gabe
Irrfan Khan as Robert, Agnes’ puzzle partner
David Denman as Louie, Agnes’ husband and Ziggy and Gabe’s father
Bubba Weiler as Ziggy, Agnes and Louie’s older son and Gabe’s brother
Austin Abrams as Gabe, Agnes and Louie’s younger son and Ziggy’s brother and Nicki’s boyfriend
Liv Hewson as Nicki, Gabe’s girlfriend