Keswick Film Club - Reviews - Anemone

We started the season with 'Anemone', starring the great Daniel Day-Lewis with Sean Bean and Samatha Morton. A beautiful, slow but deep movie about two brothers, Ray and Jem, whose lives have both been changed by their experiences serving in Northern Ireland. Ray has left his pregnant wife to become a recluse in a cabin deep in the woods, whilst Jem has become the husband and father of Ray's wife, Nessa, and child, Brian. Now, 20 years later, Brian has joined the army too and nearly killed a fellow soldier in an angry fight. Feeling he really needs to meet his real father, Nessa sends Jem off to the wood to bring him home.

The film gradually brings us to the reason Ray has left everything, with some amazing acting in the cabin as Day-Lewis and Bean face off, often with no words at all. We also follow Brian and Nessa at home, as she finally tries to persuade him that Ray is not as bad as Brian thinks.

The film was spoilt for some by some weird symbolism near the end, with a horse-like character and a giant dead fish; AI tells me these represented Ray's guilt and isolation but no-one I spoke to understood that. What he was feeling guilty about you will have to go and see for yourself… as one of those who loved the film, I would definitely recommend you do!