A mesmerising performance by Florence Pugh anchors Sebasti\u00e1n Lelio\u2019s eerie period drama<\/a> about the dangers of blind faith, which is also a lesson on adapting and searching.\u00a0<\/span>The adaptation of Emma Donoghue\u2019s 2016 novel stars Pugh<\/a> as English nurse Lib, who\u2019s called out to the Irish midlands in the aftermath of the Great Famine to observe 11-year-old Anna (K\u00edla Lord Cassidy) who apparently hasn\u2019t eaten for four months.<\/span><\/p>\n While Anna\u2019s parents (Elaine Cassidy and Caolan Byrne) and many of the town\u2019s all-male committee, including the likes of Doctor McBrearty (Toby Jones) and Father Thaddeus (Ciar\u00e1n Hinds), believe it\u2019s a religious miracle, Lib \u2013 a hard believer in medical facts \u2013 and journalist Will Byrne (Tom Burke) suspect trickery.<\/span><\/p>\n What follows is a slow-burn thriller involving many clashing worldviews \u2013<\/span>\u00a0faith and reason, religion and science \u2013<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>as the mystery becomes not so much about discovering what is happening, but why. And it is propelled by Pugh, who does a terrific job of portraying Lib\u2019s growing exasperation as Anna weakens under her watch.<\/span><\/p>\n A powerful scene sees Lib frantically stick<\/span> a feeding tube into Anna\u2019s starving body in<\/span> a brief loss of control<\/span>\u00a0before, unable to go through with it, she yanks it out. K\u00edla\u00a0(Elaine Cassidy\u2019s real-life daughter) is brilliant as the innocent and suffering child.\u00a0It is only when Lib abandons her rational approach and adopts Anna\u2019s version of reality that family secrets finally emerge.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAre our own beliefs fixed and rigid?\u201d the film asks us. The movie begins on the studio set where The Wonder is being filmed, exposing the film\u2019s artifice and drawing our attention towards the power of fiction, as Kitty (Niamh Algar) invites us to believe in the story we are about to see. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe are nothing without stories,\u201d she says. Later, in character as the family servant, Algar breaks the fourth wall again as Lib asks her whether Anna could be getting food from somewhere. \u201cWe all have our stories,\u201d she says to the camera.<\/span><\/p>\n Lelio\u2019s breaks of the fourth wall are at times a little jarring (particularly when the framing device is used at the end), and take us out of reality, but that\u2019s the point: this is a bold and thought-provoking drama that forces us to question the validity of our own beliefs.<\/span><\/p>\n The rest of the time, Pugh does a fantastic job of immersing us in the story, as does Lelio, who expertly controls the suspense with a haunting score and atmospheric cinematography: breath-taking shots of the Irish moors capture the landscape\u2019s raw beauty (a world away from the greys of his 2017 feature Disobedience). It seems at times to trap Lib, but at others exhilarate and<\/span>, in a direct contrast to the claustrophobic interiors of Anna\u2019s home, beckon as an escape route.<\/span><\/p>\n Inspired by real-life cases of \u2018fasting girls\u2019 reported in the Victorian era \u2013 women, often prepubescent, who claimed to survive without food for lengthy periods of time \u2013 The Wonder will variously be interpreted as everything from a study of our relationship to our bodies, an exploration of the dangers of religious fervour, and a meditation on grief and trauma, both personal and collective in the aftermath of the Great Irish famine.<\/span><\/p>\n But ultimately, the film brings us back to the power of fiction, as<\/span> an optimistic and moving finale asks us to believe in the possibility of a miracle, just not the one we were initially presented with.<\/span><\/p>\n The Wonder will be released in select cinemas on Friday 4th November 2022 and on Netflix<\/a> on Wednesday 16th November 2022. Sign up for Netflix from \u00a36.99 a month<\/a>. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass<\/a> and Virgin Media Stream<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Check out more of our Film<\/a> coverage or visit our TV Guide<\/a> to see what\u2019s on tonight.<\/strong><\/p>\n The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now \u2013 subscribe now<\/a> and get the next 12 issues for only \u00a31. For more\u00a0from<\/span>\u00a0the biggest stars in TV, listen to the<\/span>\u00a0Radio Times\u00a0View<\/span>\u00a0From<\/span>\u00a0My<\/span>\u00a0Sofa<\/span>\u00a0podcast<\/a>.<\/span><\/b><\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By Molly Moss Published: Thursday, 03 November 2022 at 12:00 am 4.0 out of 5 star rating A mesmerising performance by Florence Pugh anchors Sebasti\u00e1n Lelio\u2019s eerie period drama about the dangers of blind faith, which is also a lesson on adapting and searching.\u00a0The adaptation of Emma Donoghue\u2019s 2016 novel stars Pugh as English nurse […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":25091,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/the-wonder-review-florence-pugh-anchors-eerie-period-drama.png",1920,1281,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/the-wonder-review-florence-pugh-anchors-eerie-period-drama-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/the-wonder-review-florence-pugh-anchors-eerie-period-drama-300x200.png",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/the-wonder-review-florence-pugh-anchors-eerie-period-drama-768x512.png",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/the-wonder-review-florence-pugh-anchors-eerie-period-drama-1024x683.png",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/the-wonder-review-florence-pugh-anchors-eerie-period-drama-1536x1025.png",1536,1025,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/the-wonder-review-florence-pugh-anchors-eerie-period-drama.png",1920,1281,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Molly Moss Published: Thursday, 03 November 2022 at 12:00 am 4.0 out of 5 star rating A mesmerising performance by Florence Pugh anchors Sebasti\u00e1n Lelio\u2019s eerie period drama about the dangers of blind faith, which is also a lesson on adapting and searching.\u00a0The adaptation of Emma Donoghue\u2019s 2016 novel stars Pugh as English nurse…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/25090"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/11\/The-Wonder-Florence-Pugh-8469e3c.jpg?quality=90&resize=619%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
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