The Wonder (2022)- BFI London Film Festival 2022

Review

103min

Genre:       Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Director:     Sebastián Lelio

Cast:         Florence Pugh, Kíla Lord Cassidy, Tom Burke…and more

Writers:     Emma Donoghue, Sebastián Lelio and Alice Birch

-Synopsis-

A pragmatic English nurse with a painful past is sent to an Irish village in the mid-1800s tasked with observation of a special patient, which soon turns into a quest to unravel the mystery of a pious local teen girl whose survival without food for months is claimed as a miracle of divine intervention, as the visitor’s commitment to science and reason is challenged by who and what she finds, forcing her into drastic action in this tense claustrophobic psychological costume drama with hints of gothic thriller from the director of ‘A Fantastic Woman’.

When it comes to the last two centuries of a troubled Irish past, religious fervour and suffering have often gone hand-in-hand and inevitably defined the history of the country, from the devastation of The Great Famine in the mid-19^th century to the Irish Civil War and the ‘Troubles’ during the 20th century. Now after establishing himself as one of the more fascinating voices in vibrant Latin American cinema over the last decade or so with films like ‘Gloria’ and the Oscar-winning ‘A Fantastic Woman’, and successfully transitioning to English language film, Argentinian-born Chilean director Sebastián Lelio joins forces with screenwriter Alice Birch and author/historian Emma Donoghue adapting her own 2016 novel, using the melancholy backdrop of Irish history for a taught and moody meditation on loss and grief, faith vs. reason, and hard to breach cultural divides.

Florence Pugh stars as 19th century English nurse and woman of science ‘Lib Wright’, summoned to a remote Irish village to report on a supposed case of divine intervention by closely observing young ‘Anna O’Donnell’ (Kíla Lord Cassidy), a pious local youngster claiming to have survived for months without food and nourished only by “manna” from heaven. But as she struggles to unravel the mystery against the backdrop of unhelpful local officials and a devout culture eager to accept a miracle in their midst, the pragmatic nurse is even further confounded by her young patient’s psychology and the attentions of her melancholy mother ‘Rosaleen’ (Elaine Cassidy), as Lib is confronted by her own tragic past and drawn to returning local but now intrepid London reporter ‘William Byrne’ (Tom Burke), as the stakes increase and she makes a fateful decision which will change lives . . . one way or another.

From virtually the first frame of the film Lelio wastes little time setting the melancholy mood with a bleak, forlorn, and occasionally ominous tone befitting a gothic drama centred around trauma, grief and belief—albeit with a sliver of space for hope—as the Chilean director perceptively captures Irish period wistfulness and unease with a similar feel to his star Pugh’s breakout 2016 film ‘Lady Macbeth’. It’s all punctuated by grey skies over the stunning grasslands and rolling hills of rural Ireland, so beautifully captured by cinematographer Ari Wegner (In Fabric, The Power of the Dog), while composer and regular Sebastián Lelio collaborator Matthew Herbert (A Fantastic Woman, Gloria Bell) adds untold atmosphere with a mysterious and occasionally unsettling score, combining eclectic instrumentals with chanting to otherworldly and sometimes jarring effect.

This is undoubtedly a tense and atmospheric period piece with more than a little intrigue, but even after the mystery is solved and the truth is set free, Lelio and his screenwriters stay faithful to the narrative’s concept of belief trumping facts within hearts and minds—something our generation will be all too familiar with—keeping the audience gripped by the film’s strength as a character drama meditation on the power and perils of ideology and dogma. All set against the backdrop of a country still reeling from the devastation of the Great Famine, and devout people whose faith in Christ’s sacrifice creates a pull towards suffering as a means to getting closer to God.

It’s safe to say that ‘The Wonder’ looks and feels every inch the part thanks to the aforementioned locations and shooting style, and the atmosphere set by its galvanising score, and it’s dressed to the nines in stylish but appropriately constrained period garb and fine production designs to convincingly place the viewer in the mid-19^th century. So the last and most important piece of this cinematic puzzle is the performance of the cast—and boy do they do the material justice.

Florence Pugh continues to underline her credentials as one of the most accomplished Gen Z actors working today and leans on her already extensive period drama experience to deliver a nuanced and compelling performance as a determined harbinger of reason out of her element, serving as the audience’s voice and steadily growing in despair. She’s expertly juxtaposed against young Kíla Lord Cassidy who is a revelation as the unnervingly calm and devout local girl and subject of everyone’s attentions, hiding trauma under layers of belief and determination, playing gracefully off her stoic yet determined mother finely portrayed by her real-life mum Elaine Cassidy—all women who have supressed loss and grief to survive in a rigid world. And they’re all sublimely supported by an ensemble cast of Irish and British performers, ranging from emerging talents to easily recognisable veteran ones.

With ‘The Wonder’ Sebastián Lelio further proves his flair for crossing oceans to tell nuanced and moving female-led stories about women of every period and persuasion and their struggles in a world not built for them or by them, turning up the mood and style to capture the mournful soul of a country scarred by its difficult history. A culture which turns to a simultaneously unifying and divisive devotion to faith in the hopes of healing and reaching something more divine.

The Bottom Line…

A tense and moody but moving meditation on trauma, loss, and grief set against a poignant but confronting cultural study of reason versus faith and the perils of dogma, ‘The Wonder’ is a stylish and finely judged character piece drenched in bleak but stylish psychological gothic thriller atmosphere, anchored by a strong central performance from Pugh and equally impressive counter from Cassidy—placing Sebastián Lelio in the growing ranks of impressive Latin American filmmakers whose works seamlessly cross boundaries.

‘The Wonder’ is out on limited release in UK cinemas on the 4th of November, and is available on Netflix from the 16th of November.

Similar films you may like (Home Video)

Lady Macbeth (2017)

Bought and effectively held prisoner by her domineering new older husband and his equally imposing father at their rural English estate, a young bride boldly breaks free of her chains and gives in to her urges with troubling consequences in this British indie period drama adaptation of Nikolai Leskov’s 19th century novel.

Directed by William Oldroyd and starring Florence Pugh, Christopher Fairbank and Cosmo Jarvis among others.

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