There\u0027s something familiar about almost all the male characters in Alex Garland\u0027s latest
It’s not exactly a spoiler to say that, but you could also be forgiven for not sussing it out straight away. In fact, for a good portion of the film, there are only three characters in total. Jessie Buckley – one of those can’t-wait-to-see-what-she-does-next actors – is Harper, renting a country cottage to get over the death of her husband, played in flashback by Paapa Essiedu.
And then there’s Geoffrey. Played by Kinnear in some truly atrocious prosthetic teeth – wouldn’t be surprised to see the British Dental Association boycotting this one – he is the avuncular landlord of the rural rental property. Or rather, he’s trying for avuncular. In fact, he’s awkward and a bit domineering, his interactions with Harper pitched on the cusp of chivalrous and chauvinist.
When he finally leaves her in peace, she takes a walk and finds a long, damp tunnel, its spookiness eased by the fact that it returns pitch-perfect echoes as she trills into its darkness. She’s very much enjoying creating a solo three-part harmony when a figure appears at the far end of the tunnel, silent and motionless before suddenly breaking into a sprint. Harper, understandably freaked out, scarpers.
Things will get worse before they get better, with Harper having to call the police and at one point running into a vicar who offers solace on the subject of her dead husband, before suggesting that perhaps his demise was somehow her fault.
Buckley is superb in her role, a confident woman made fragile by her recent loss, the details of which are revealed in a steady narrative drip, with one specific left purposefully unknown. And Kinnear, though mostly existing as a series of male caricatures, nevertheless provides some three-dimensionality to his one-man cast.
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