The 2023 low-budget drama movie Memory is set to be released in select US theaters on December 22 before a wide release on January 5.
Despite the film’s relatively low production cost, lead star Jessica Chastain has been actively promoting her new drama by making the rounds on the press circuit.
On Thursday, she was seen heading to The View studios dressed for the holidays in a textured green sweater and matching green pants.
Red-haired Jessica Chastain promotes her drama film Memory at The View on December 14, 2023 (Credit: Roger Wong / INSTARimages)
Jessica looked great in her green turtleneck sweater made from shimmering fabric that gave off a festive vibe. Its fitted silhouette and quarter sleeves emphasized her slim figure.
The Blackbeard actress tucked her holiday sweater into a pair of high-waisted green pants by knitwear-focused American brand St. John to draw further attention to her slim waist. These pants were fastened with an off-center single button and featured pleats, side pockets, and tapered hem.
Keeping the rest of her look minimalist, Chastain opted to go without jewelry and accessorized her monochromatic holiday green outfit with a classic pair of black pumps.
Jessica Chastain dons a green holiday outfit featuring a textured turtleneck sweater with matching green trousers by St. John and classic black pumps (Credit: Janet Mayer / startraksphoto)
Outside the studio, Chastain was seen signing autographs while looking cozy in a leather coat that had features common to moto leather jackets. It had a collar with silver buttons, zipped chest pockets, long sleeves, and a silver buckled belt.
As coats tend to be longer than jackets that usually end at the waist, Chastain’s moto coat fell exactly on her knees.
The Zero Dark Thirty star concealed her eyes behind an oversized pair of cat-eye sunglasses and styled her long, red hair in soft waves. She then accessorized her look with a shiny black purse and wore minimal makeup, accentuating her natural features with pink blush, pink lipstick, mascara, and pink eyeshadow with a hint of glitter.
Jessica Chastain wraps herself warm in a black leather moto coat layered over her green outfit (Credit: Mary Crane / Future Image / Cover Images)
No Trailer, No Makeup, No Costume: Jessica Chastain on Signing Up for Memory
Following a run of critically acclaimed and commercially successful films, Jessica Chastain readily agreed to work with director Michel Franco and actor Peter Sarsgaard on the low-budget drama film Memory
“I’ve always had the desire to do something smaller and to work with filmmakers that lead with story and have their own unique point of view and don’t direct by committee. I find that frustrating when a filmmaker has 10 people, whether executives or what, directing with them,” Chastain told IndieWire.
She continued, “There’s been perhaps [this idea that] because I have been doing bigger things sometimes and have gotten a lot of attention as of late, I would not be interested in being on a set without a trailer. We had the Oscars, and I won for Tammy Faye, and then right after that, I showed up on set to do Memory. Michel said that a lot of people told him, ‘Oh Jessica is going to leave your film because she just won an Oscar.’”
Jessica Chastain shows off her Oscar for Best Actress trophy while clad in a custom Gucci gown at the 94th Academy Awards on March 27, 2022 (Credit: Abby Grant / Cover Images / INSTARimages)
She added, “When we first started out in our first Zoom, Michel was a little nervous, he was like, ‘Do you understand the way I shoot? I don’t do makeup, I don’t do trailers.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I’m fine, let’s go.’”
“I’m not doing a movie to be pampered. If I want to be pampered, I’ll go to a spa. I’m doing a film to work and to be creative, and I don’t need to sit by myself in a trailer.”
Jessica added that she did her own hair and shopped for her character’s clothes at Target.
“I was in Nashville at the time, and I went to Target. We were moving quickly. I think I spent like $130 and I brought it back, and we did a fitting. Michel told me that our cinematographer Yves [Cape] goes, ‘She still looks too chic!’ There was a lot of let’s try and just scrub Jessica of any kind of movie star feeling that we can, which also I appreciated. I appreciated that I was doing my own hair every day. It was fun.”
Jessica Chastain looks elegant in her Cong Tri Spring 2024 gown at the 20th Marrakech International Film Festival: Memory Premiere on November 27, 2023 (Credit: Abaca Press / INSTARimages)
Chastain went on to say that she was appreciative of the opportunity to work on a simple set and explore places in New York City that she had never visited before.
“While we were shooting, because we were shooting above a tire store and everything, it took me like a month to get the dirt out from under my fingernails. Where we were shooting in the subways, the tire shops, it was a part of New York I hadn’t experienced, but also I am grateful for that.”
Jessica Chastain is makeup-free in her latest drama movie, Memory (Credit: Ketchup Entertainment / Teorema / High Frequency Entertainment / Screen Capital / MUBI / Case Study Films)
How Critics View Jessica Chastain’s Memory Movie
Jessica Chastain plays Sylvia, a decade-sober alcoholic and a single mom who continues to battle the trauma of her childhood sexual abuse.
She stars opposite Peter Sarsgaard as Saul, a man with early-onset dementia, with whom Sylvia eventually becomes involved following a high school reunion. Sylvia believes he’s one of the schoolboys who sexually assaulted her in the past, but Saul says he does not recall. Later on, however, Sylvia, a social worker, finds herself taking care of the person she believes has damaged her life.
Peter Sarsgaard and Jessica Chastain star together in the Michel Franco-directed movie Memory (Credit: Ketchup Entertainment / Teorema / High Frequency Entertainment / Screen Capital / MUBI / Case Study Films)
Memory made its debut on September 8 at the 80th Venice International Film Festival, where it was chosen to compete for the Golden Lion. For his performance, Peter Sarsgaard took home the Volpi Cup for Best Actor.
The movie received generally positive reviews from critics, with 92% of the 37 critic reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, a website that aggregates reviews, praising the storyline and the actors.
The website’s critics consensus reads: “A searingly powerful union of filmmaker and cast, Memory finds writer/director Michel Franco exploring complex, mature themes brought brilliantly to life by stars Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard.”
Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard at the New York special screening of Memory hosted by Peter’s brother-in-law Jake Gyllenhaal (Credit: Dave Allocca / Starpix / Startraksphoto)