“puzzle” movie review

I knew, from the minute I saw the trailer, that I would adore this movie. And, boy, did I.

For me, Puzzle is this year’s Maudie; in other words, it’s (so far) my favorite movie of the year.

Puzzle is the story of Agnes (Kelly Macdonald), a shy suburban mom/housewife who spends her days cleaning, cooking, doing church work and basically fulfilling her husband’s and two teenage sons’ every wish. It will come as no surprise to learn that this is not fulfilling for her.

When she receives a jigsaw puzzle as a birthday gift (at a party in her house, where she has to make and bring out her own birthday cake in a devastating scene which gives you all the context you need to know), it magically awakens something in her that’s been lying dormant since her mother died when she was a little girl and she had to dote on her father.

She finishes the 1000 piece puzzle — one that would take most people days, if not weeks, to complete — before her husband comes home from work, and feels a deep sense of satisfaction and pride. She realizes she has a talent for this, and she heads into Manhattan for the first time in years to buy another puzzle.

She also decides to answer an ad for someone looking to partner up for the National Jigsaw Championship. Her world widens as she finds herself spending time with Robert (Irrfan Khan), last year’s champion, who becomes an unlikely confidante and a representation of possibility.

This is a small, quiet, beautifully-executed movie that will stay with you, thanks to a gorgeously nuanced performance by Macdonald. It’s quite a feat to make a movie about competitive jigsaw puzzling this riveting, and I would love to see her win an Oscar nomination for it.

Of course, ultimately, the movie isn’t really about jigsaw puzzles. Although it lends itself to many great metaphors about putting together the pieces of your life, how you find the missing pieces, etc, that’s not the point.

Puzzle is about empowerment and the importance of finding some skill, some pleasure, some accomplishment to embrace as your own. It doesn’t matter what it is (could there be anything more innocuous than jigsaw puzzles?) – it just matters that it makes you feel a sense of contentment and a job well done. Just like Puzzle does.