#FilmReview #Beast A Tour de Force Duet by Newcomers Jessie Buckley and Johnny Flynn

Is there much difference between verbal and physical abuse?

Beast, a film to be released on the 27th of April, fluctuates between the two. The behind closed doors daily verbal abuse perpetrated by honourable members of Society and more explicit physical abuse carried out by outsiders. One seems to be accepted; the other not. An unanswered question that keeps trickling down over superb performances by Jessie Buckley and Johnny Flynn. Buckley achieves to held the narrative with perfection as its central character. As the director, Michael Pearce, comments:

“What I was particularly interested in with Moll as a character was creating the tension of a woman who has this muted masklike exterior and an inner fire that simmers just below the surface. We want Moll to escape the prison she has found herself in, but are concerned about the journey she is taking. I needed someone who could also elicit the tensions and pressures going on behind Moll’s eyes.”

Set in the island of Jersey, it reflects the tensions between the poorer native community and the wealthier new occupants. Moll is 27 and still living at home, stifled by the small island community around her and too beholden to her family to break away. When she meets Pascal, a free-spirited stranger, a whole new world opens up to her and she begins to feel alive for the first time, falling madly in love. Finally breaking free from her family, Moll moves in with Pascal to start a new life. But when he is arrested as the key suspect in a series of brutal murders, she is left isolated and afraid. Choosing to stand with him against the suspicions of the community, Moll finds herself forced to make choices that will impact her life forever.

Although filmed in a picturesque holiday destination, Benjamin Kracun, the director of photography, avoids the cliches of beautiful landscapes and concentrates on the strong exchanges of words, specially between the two main characters. Beast is a brilliant debut by Pearce, as the director, and Buckley and Flynn as relatively newcomers into acting. A psychological thriller that I highly recommend.