As Don’t Worry Darling took centre stage in the ‘spit-zone’ also known as The Venice International Film Festival (a more in-depth review here), Florence Pugh’s other 2022 leading role in The Wonder was quietly released on Netflix. If it wasn’t for the consistent mismanagement of advertising new and original media by the streaming service, I would have assumed this was a purposeful decision to avoid the overexposure Wilde’s film received that hindered many critics’ enjoyment. Thankfully, I don’t have to review the marketing strategy, but just because the film is understated doesn’t mean its promotion has to be as well.
Before we are immersed in said atmosphere, director Sebastián Lelio takes the ‘Text over black screen’ prologue and innovatively unravels the trope. Showing the set and pivotal house set piece, a narrator introduces the audience literally with “This is the beginning. The beginning of a film called ‘The Wonder’”. Accompanied by Matthew Herbert’s award-winning haunting score, which alone is incredibly unsettling if a little distracting in parts of the movie, this subversive entrance eerily sets the tone whilst seamlessly transitioning us in with the characters.
The insistence on the feature’s fictitious nature acted as a warped form of reverse psychology, engrossing me in the slow-burn story. A period drama set after the great famine in a rural Irish village, Pugh plays no-nonsense English nurse Mrs Wright who has been hired by a group of respected residents (Toby Jones plays a Doctor, Dermot Crowley a sir etc.) alongside Sister Michael (Josie Walker) to watch a miracle child. Anna O’Donnell (Kíla Lord Cassidy) has not eaten in four months, claiming to be fed by “manna from heaven”. Everyone is curious as to what’s going on but doesn’t want any interference, such as the pushy nature of determined journalist William Byrne (Tom Burke).
Unsurprisingly, Florence Pugh steps up again to show that her performance can truly elevate any film. Haunted by past traumas and experiences from the Crimean War, Pugh is able to showcase her character’s range of emotions grappling with scepticism and frustration involved during her duty of care. Also unsurprisingly is how tough it was to find a child that fits the specification for Anna (brought up in Girls On Film’s podcast), yet Cassidy is an apt foil of calm acceptance against Pugh’s increasingly less- reserved anger. As the film progresses, the world remains plausible to a point, mostly due to the extensive stellar cast. Their authenticity helps us accept each character’s motivations despite some questionable belief systems.
However, there are then moments that pierce through this illusion. Roughly twenty-five minutes in, Anna’s sister Kitty (Niamh Algar) stares directly at the camera and the introductory narration briefly returns, before not being touched upon again. Not only was this incredibly distracting but it also felt like a ‘gotcha’ moment for embracing the film, or a deleted Office US scene. This creates issues because the story unfolds in a relatively straightforward fashion, and the film’s themes of loss and religion are quite surface level as well. If there isn’t anything to sink my teeth into narratively, you can’t then also randomly break the fourth wall, otherwise I begin to question what I’m even watching.
Altogether, The Wonder could be felt hard done by with its release schedule. Already overshadowed by Don’t Worry Darling, The Wonder is unlucky to have come out around the same time as Banshees of Insherrin, otherwise the cinematography would be more widely discussed. The unique opener would have also hooked more people in, but those who would have found it divisive wouldn’t have made it past the 30 minute mark. Even from a folk horror perspective, I would much rather watch Enys Men again. Yet, the atmospheric tone and Florence Pugh’s continual acting masterclass means The Wonder stays in purgatory rather than being sent down below.