The Wonder ★★★½
FLORENCE Pugh can pretty much do no wrong.
In just eight years, through performances in The Falling, Lady Macbeth, Fighting With My Family, Midsommar, Little Women, Back Widow, and Don’t Worry Darling, she has shown the ability to be both a character actor and movie star on screen.
Now we can add her latest role in the 2022 psychological period drama The Wonder to that impressive list.
This brooding, intriguing and beautifully filmed piece is based on a 2016 novel of the same name by Emma Donoghue, who also wrote the screenplay.
It is set in 1862, still a time of lives based on unwavering faith and deep superstition in many corners of the world, including an unnamed rural village in Ireland.
Pugh plays Elizabeth Wright, a skilled and experienced English nurse who, along with a Catholic nun, have been sent to the village with an unusual task.
A young local girl, Anna O’Donnell, and her deeply religious parents claim she has not eaten for four months and friends, relatives and neighbours are starting to believe in the presence of a miracle and Anna’s potential healing powers.
The parish leaders have sought independent corroboration and have called on the nurse and nun to take shifts observing Anna to make absolutely sure she is not being given sustenance in secret.
For her part, Anna claims she is being kept alive by consuming ‘manna from Heaven’ and seems to be encouraging the growing attention
During her investigation Elizabeth draws closer to Anna and uncovers details of the family’s past that are crucial to understanding the current events, as well as a cynical journalist sent to cover the story of the ‘miracle girl’.
The film works on several levels, being an examination of the period in question, the power of the mind and faith generally and as a fascinating mystery.
I also loved Chilean director Sebastian Lelio’s use of natural light and texture of the film stock used which at times resembled a moving painting that could have been created at the time of the story.
Lelio hasn’t made many films but they have all been strongly praised. He works exceptionally well with female leads as evidenced here and his other film that I have seen, Disobedience from 2016, which is well worth watching if you enjoy The Wonder.