Going into this one I knew little to nothing about it, I just saw the cast when the film was announced as part of TIFF's lineup and thought it would be a great one to see with my girlfriend. The end result is something that I enjoyed for the most part but could have been so much better.
The film follows Muriel (Daisy Edgar-Jones), a newlywed in the 1950s whose now husband (Will Poulter) has returned from Korea. When his brother (Jacob Elordi) shows up one day, her life and his start to take unexpected paths as they each become acquainted with unexpected companions and begin learning more and more about themselves.
On the surface this should be right up my alley, it's a cast of actors I love and a story full of intrigue and an interesting take on sexuality especially given it's 1950s setting. From the get go the film hooks you, partly thanks to jumping pretty much right into a sex scene, but then following it with the mysterious introduction to Jacob Elordi's character. The dynamic between him and Edgar-Jones is immediately fascinating, but sadly they wind up spending a lot of the film in different places.
Edgar-Jones is the highlight of the cast for me, I love her as an actress and she has an interesting sense of both independence and innocence to her. Muriel begins taking part in things like gambling and a sexual relationship with a female neighbour, and Daisy approaches these new interests with a very authentic sense of excitement. The only problem is that the film doesn't really dive deep enough into these new pieces of her to really make them feel worthwhile. The story is largely about her finding a new self, but we never see what draws her to these new experiences or how they ultimately change her over the course of the film. The same can be said of Elordi's character Julius. The air of mystery surrounding him comes across as exciting, but it ultimately seems as though his character doesn't change over the course of the film. He and Diego Calva's character Henry are one of the highlights of the film, but it does feel like more could have been done with the two of them to flesh things out a bit more. I love Will Poulter but sadly he didn't really work for me here, something about his performance just feels out of place, and as the only character not exploring themselves in an interesting way it ultimately feels like he just doesn't fit within the story.
While I have gripes with the story, visually this is fantastic, with stunning cinematography elevating the material throughout. I loved the use of lights, especially scenes around Christmas, and the set design has just enough pops of colour to remain interesting in an era I don't tend to love stories being set in. One set I loved was a hotel where people could go to engage in same-sex relationships in secret, and there's essentially a bulletin board where people leave notes for those they hope to one day reconnect with. I'm assuming this is a real thing, and if so I think it's pretty heartbreaking yet beautiful, and it's something I really loved in the context of the film.
I did like this movie. While the story doesn't really flesh out any of the strings it creates, the performances are great and the filmmaking is really solid. I just wish things were tied together better. 3/5.
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