The Puzzle (2018)

I love doing puzzles.  I would not have proposed that watching other people piece together jigsaw puzzles would  sound like the most inherently cinematic pursuit, nor would it seem to provide much opportunity for character development. Puzzles are largely a solitary activity—a chance to focus quietly and inwardly, to retreat from the peripheral noise of the outside world.  Such a supposition would be wrong in the case of this movie.
The heart of Agnes, a stay at home mother of two, is what is revealed.  The movie opens with Agnes putting up balloons and decorations in her middle-class home, then serving snacks and cleaning up messes once her party guests have arrived. When it comes time to bring out the birthday cake, Agnes is the one to light the candles—and she’s also the one who blows them out. Turns out this party is for her, but she’s stuck doing all the work, just as she would be on any ordinary day.    But one of the gifts she receives is a jigsaw puzzle, which she spontaneously sits down and quickly completes at the dining room table one afternoon. It has 1,000 pieces, and she breezes through it with ease before breaking it all apart and starting all over again. This awkward, introverted woman suddenly reveals herself to be a virtuoso who’s totally in command. The knowledge that she is astoundingly good at one thing allows her to break out of her shell and the results are very fun to watch.