Earwig (2022)

What ever you do, don't have lunch immediately before you watch this. I made that mistake and a combination of pasta, a comfortable seat in a dark and warm cinema and the glacially slow nature of the story here made it nigh on impossible for me to keep my eyes open. From the outset, I struggled to correlate the title with any aspect of the plot as it unfolded (I think) before me. "Mia" (Ramane Hemelaers) is a young girl living in a shuttered-up house with little furniture. Her only companion is her carer "Scellinc" (Paul Hilton) who looks after her, and more importantly (and confusingly) her teeth. This rather mundane routine continues, interrupted only by their housekeeper and the occasional calls from their "masters". It is when one such call indicates that it is time for "Mia" to leave and travel to meet them that the story begins to intertwine with a parallel thread in which "Céleste" (Ramola Garai) - whom we know was involved in a nasty altercation with "Scellinc" in a bar that left her face disfigured - is travelling on the same train with her benefactor "Laurence" (Alex Lawther) who keeps her regularly supplied with laudanum to ease the pain. To say that the whole thing is surreal would be an understatement, and I - quite frankly - have no real idea what the last twenty minutes are meant to convey. There is a warning about gore with this film, but right til the very end I didn't spot any, and even then it was hardly shocking - indeed the whole film was just a pedestrian drama that left me pondering what it was really about, and for whom it was made. The photography looks good, though - plenty of attention to the detail of the overall aesthetic makes for a classy looking production but there is a real acuity of dialogue to help guide us along and I am afraid after very nearly two hours I really wasn't any the wiser.

Dark dark dark dark dark, makes David Lynch look like a sitcom. If you enjoy (like I do) not really knowing what's going on, stories that are open ended and able to be interpreted any number of ways - this is a great film for you. I found myself wondering if it was an allegory, if it was about mankind and cruelty and life in general - and therefore, it was. Beautifully photographed, the music is haunting, and the acting is superb. If you give yourself over to it and don't expect the constant Dopamine jolts of American Films, it's most enjoyable. Like a nice warm bath, you may find it relaxing to enter this dreamscape - or you may want to slit your wrists. Or both.