Treasure is a bleak, albeit messy attempt at being a heartfelt story about a holocaust survivor that falls short of any real emotional draws, with the exception of a singular moment. Ruth (Dunham) and Edek (Fry) take a trip to Poland to see Edek’s childhood home and memories. Stubborn and resistant to reliving the horrors of his childhood and surviving the Holocaust, Edek is difficult to travel with and he and Ruth do not get off to a good start on this trip. Ruth is insistent on following her plan for sightseeing and sticking to the budget, however, she completely throws it out the window when a self-centered opportunity presents itself.

 

Dunham and Fry lack genuine chemistry for the father/daughter connection, so the entire relationship feels pieced together with noticeable missing elements. They are disjointed from the start—Dunham’s character is whiny, constantly and consistently nagging and Fry’s character is aloof, silly, and hard to take seriously, even in the serious moments. Both Ruth and Edek are mourning the loss of their mother/wife and cannot seem to get on the same page in their grieving process. Also, Ruth seems to be grabbing at straws to have this emotional awakening at reliving her father’s childhood, something he does not want to relive although she is basically forcing him to do so. It just does not work on screen and it leaves you feeling awkward and unsure of what the point of the story is, other than … family? The one genuine moment Dunham and Fry are able to pull off will pull at the heart strings—Ruth is able to gift Edek something that means a lot to him from his childhood home that brings back fond memories. 

 

Treasure is unfortunately a somber, boring exploration of an untraveled connection. In an era where films are excessively over the 2 hour mark, this feature that lands under that time yet it still feels longer than those that exceed it.