User Reviews

The feelings of grief, guilt, and entrapment subtly gloom over the characters throughout the movie. Intergenerational trauma and collective remembrance of poverty, depravity, and disease lurk behind every corner. But this movie is not just about feelings. It's more of a story about the stories. Particularly stories we tell ourselves to make sense of circumstances, both present and past.

Narratives have existed as long as humankind, and they have helped us gain control over trauma, confusion, and loss. Whether we seek them in religion, science, or art, their power persists through time and across cultures. They can heal or make us sick; they can put us in a (mental) cage or set us free. And after everything is said and done, they will persevere even long after we're gone.

Past is not just about what has happened, but about what we believe has happened. This movie is an artistic study of both psychological and anthropological effects of belief in the narrative. And it nurtures this self-awareness; at the beginning, we are reminded that we are about to witness a story. Nothing more, nothing less. Can narratives destroy lives? How about saving them?

That being said, I will explore a few of the main characters and the symbolism attached to each one of them.

SPOILERS BELOW:

Anna is a victim of false narratives. First, her brother creates a story to justify the unjustifiable and to persuade her to participate in the incestuous relationship. After he dies, the family falls victim to another dogmatic narrative; this one rooted in the misinterpretation of faith. Anna's parents are both abusers and victims. They've been taught that their children can find salvation only in the afterlife and that they're forced to suffer in this life. While they believe they do the best thing for Anna, their actions are actively pushing her to her untimely death. All because of a story.

Lib Wright represents the switch in the paradigm. Unlike Anna's family and the village community that blindly follows the preexisting narrative of religion, Lib is writing her own story. Her story is based on her observations and conclusions, as it is pointed out during one of her interactions with Kitty. During that same conversation, we are once again reminded that it is all about the different stories created through different perspectives. Lib is there to set Anna free from her cage, both literally and metaphorically. Even the nickname they settle with - "Lib" as opposed to the much more common "Lizzie" or "Betty" - is associated with liberation and liberty. Liberation is finally achieved as she creates a new narrative that helps Anna break free from the imposed guilt.

Will Byrne is, perhaps, the most straightforward character since, as a journalist, he creates the narratives - thousands of them, as we learn from one of his first interactions with Lib. And he seems to be the most aware of the power of narratives, as he continually reminds Lib that she's not to believe everything she's told. In one scene, he brings a gift to Anna - a toy that, when spun, creates an optical illusion of a bird being in and out of a cage. It is again symbolic of Anna's imprisonment in the cage of a narrative created through collective trauma. When she asks whether the bird is free or caged, Will replies it's up to her to decide, further hinting that taking control of the narrative is a necessary step toward liberation.

And finally, there is Kitty, whose voiceover we hear in the opening scene and who breaks the fourth wall a couple of more times throughout the movie. She's both a witness to changing paradigms and a storyteller that passes the narrative through generations and finally to the audience of the movie. When we first meet her, she's illiterate and as ill-informed as the rest of the rural community which encourages Anna's starvation. Throughout the movie, she gradually learns to read and to create her perspective on matters. The story we hear is neither Anna's nor Lib's, but Kitty's, as she's the bridge between the narrative stuck in time and the progressive view that Lib introduces to the community. In the final scene, she stares at the camera and asks: "In? Out?" It is both a question for the audience, as well as her reflection on what has truly happened. Anna died IN one narrative, which was necessary for her to get OUT of it, and explore other narratives.

I watched Sebastian Leilo's fantastic Oscar winning A Fantastic Woman so decided to give this a go.

I have to talk about the opening and closing scenes from the start. Unnecessary and pretentious they pulled me out of the movie from the start. Why were they in there? Doubtless someone will have an equally pretentious answer elsewhere in the reviews.

The film as a whole is good. Slow, but good. Florence Pugh is her usual brilliant self as is the rest of the cast. The story unfolds carefully and told via characters which is always welcome.

Is it possible that this will go up for Oscar's? Sure. At times this is a brilliant movie but it does have its problems.

This film is beyond boring and marketed entirely wrong.

This is a DRAMA.

The whole story and idea was really great but poorly executed by tricking you into trying to figure out what other worldly force is keeping Anna alive. Instead, it's actually a great story about how strong beliefs can impact people's actions. There was no need to try fiddle with adding a layer of unworldly uncertainty to the whole thing. That element takes away from the drama of the story and connection you should feel towards Anna.

Whilst the acting is all around great, you can't help but feel the film is trying to hard to just be something it isn't.

Also, the opening telling you that your watching a film.. why was that even there? That immediately ruined the tone of the movie.

I'll admit I was abused as a child. Badly. This movie resonates with me because half of your soul wants to be loyal to your family but your real true self wants to escape. Back in the 1800s there were no options.

God knows how many children died because of religion. This movie is about trying to escape that dynamic. It's beautifully filmed, the score fits perfectly and the set design and atmosphere make it so impactful.

I was made sick (physically, always in the hospital or in bed as a child) but was still loyal to my family not knowing why I was. Now as I'm healing I know it was because I was abused. This movie touches on that. I won't go into detail but it is extremely powerful. Enjoy! (As I cry writing this review sadly).

Florence Pugh is a talented actress, the cinematography is lovely, and there certainly could have been an interesting story here, but instead, weird music and generalized oddness is substituted for a meaningful story.

Introducing that the fourth wall would be broken at the beginning of the story created expectations that something would come of it, but then it didn't develop, so the purpose of doing so is the only mystery there.

Perhaps most disturbing was the way that the plotline of incest between the deceased son and the starving daughter was introduced, but then never really addressed -- either from the religious perspectives that the story is steeped-in or from the perspective of the traumas and psychological damages extending across and motivating the behaviors of Anna's family. Instead, the significance of Anna revealing this truth and how it has contributed to her starvation as an atonement is treated as kind of a ho-hum, its out there, let's move on moment. I mean surely, this should have merited more than a casual mention?

Other reviewers have also noted the weird, jarring musical score and I can but confirm having had the same reaction -- i.e., please make it stop.

I really wanted this to be a wonder-ful movie, but unfortunately, no.

Intrigued as I was by this movie, I wanted to learn if it was based on a true story. It's not specifically, although there is a documented case of a ten year old Welsh girl named Sarah Jacob who gained notoriety in the 1860's who claimed to have stopped eating at the age of ten. She was known as The Welsh Fasting Girl, and as in the story here, was placed under surveillance for two weeks to see if she was really not eating. She passed away when her parents refused to send her nurses away and were convicted of manslaughter in their daughter's death. The writer of the novel upon which this film was based, Emma Donoghue, was almost certainly inspired by the account of the trial that convicted the parents.

As compelling as this movie was, there were ambiguous elements that made one question whether eleven-year-old Anna O'Donnell (Kira Lord Cassidy) was truly fasting. When her nurse Lib Wright (Florence Pugh) suggested that the girl's mother (Elaine Cassidy) was passing food while kissing her daughter, the statement was never confirmed or denied effectively. The reason behind the fasting turned out to be a horrible revelation, with Anna stating that she took it as a penance to release her brother from hell for essentially raping her when she was nine years old. It felt like Anna took some responsibility for it even if she was underage, while her own mother somehow felt it was Anna's fault that the brother died some time later. The circumstance of his death wasn't revealed. With Rosaleen O'Donnell going along with Anna's fasting 'for salvation', it became clear how the young girl's 'murder by degrees' came to be seen as the parents' fault for not intervening. The members of the committee that hired Lib Wright and nun Sister Michael (Josie Walker) to observe Anna was conflicted in their opinion as to nurse Lib's final report.

Although the story offered closure for Anna, it doesn't do as well for the viewer. There's no explanation of how Lib Wright and Will Byrne (Tom Burke) managed to smuggle Anna out of the country. No repercussions either for her burning down the O'Donnell home by the village authorities or a response from the O'Donnell's themselves. Those questions dangle at the end of the story and make for a less than satisfying conclusion. I do want to comment on the film's soundtrack; the eerie, somber music felt at times like it would have been more at home in a horror movie, and at times it seemed like the story was going in that direction.