The Washington Post - 13.03.2020

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friday, march 13, 2020

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band, Richie (Austin Stowell).

Drifting and dreaming in mid-

century luxury, Hunter is a ci-

pher: Her past as a designer is

hinted at (she tries to draw at one

point, to no avail), and it becomes

clear that the privilege that sur-

rounds her is a function of her

in-laws’ largesse. For her part, she

wears wealth uneasily, if grateful-

ly, not least because her chief duty

in the division of labor is... labor,

i.e. getting pregnant as soon as

possible.

Perhaps it’s because Hunter

feels lost or undervalued, or per-

haps it’s because she’s just bored,

but she discovers a way to create

feelings of self-worth and privacy

by engaging in a secret act that

becomes more perilous as she

pushes her body beyond its

healthy limits. In the tradition of

To dd Haynes’s “Safe,” with a dash

of horror films like “The Stepford

Wives” and “The Perfection”

thrown in for chilly measure,

Swallow

Unnerving view of a woman’s descent into self-harm extremes

BY ANN HORNADAY

Beginning with her hilarious,

gloriously self-assured debut in

the criminally under-seen rom-

com “Music and Lyrics,” Haley

Bennett h as enjoyed a career that,

while steady, has been devoid of

the breakout role she’s long de-

served.

Until now.

In “Swallow,” Bennett finally

comes into her own as the kind of

leading lady who is more than

just a pretty face, and can occupy

the screen and hold it, with com-

manding authority. In a supreme-

ly canny move, Bennett produced

this unnerving, creepily atmo-

spheric thriller, in which she

plays a wealthy, somewhat ab-

stracted housewife making a per-

verse bid for self-determination.

Bennett claims her own form of

autonomy with the movie itself,

which could be read as an ac-

tress’s decision to stop hoping for

good scripts to arrive over the

transom and make her own luck.

Bennett plays Hunter, a meek,

carefully coifed newlywed who

has just moved into a posh Hud-

son Valley aerie with her hus-

“Swallow” i s the hushed, method-

ical chronicle of a woman’s de-

scent into ever more self-harming

extremes, a journey that, in this

case, has its roots in patriarchy at

its most controlling and violent.

Written and directed by Carlo

Mirabella-Davis, who makes an

assured fiction feature debut

here, “Swallow” i sn’t e ntirely con-

vincing when it comes to the most

troubling psychological roots of

Hunter’s affliction. But the film-

maker’s tonal control, and Ben-

nett’s confident grasp of the ma-

terial, make for a compelling

portrait of emerging conscious-

ness and, ultimately, liberation.

(Her finest scene comes late in

the film, opposite the always

terrific Denis O’Hare.) Equal

parts quiet and disquieting, Ben-

nett’s performance in “Swallow”

should put Hollywood on notice

that she’s a force to be reckoned

with, on her own unapologetic

terms.

[email protected]

iFc Films

Haley Bennett — at long last — gets her breakout role as Hunter, a meek, carefully coifed newlywed

who begins to push her body beyond its healthy limits by engaging in a secret act.

R. At landmark’s West end

cinema. contains coarse

language, some sexuality and

disturbing behavior. 94 minutes.

ny-tainted point of view, Fran-

ces’s parents, Annie (Lily Moje-

kwu) and Maya (Charin Alvarez),

are a couple of well-off, milque-

toast liberals — the kind with a

“Hate Has No H ome Here” s ticker

affixed to their front door.

Bridget appears to be the apa-

thetic slacker familiar from so

many breathless blogs. Her one-

night stand with a 26-year-old

schlub — whose heart is in the

right place — turns into a series

of unlabeled hangouts, which

Saint Frances 

Don’t be judgy: A typical coming-of-age tale gets an earnest spin

BY HAU CHU

Watching the opening scenes

of “Saint Frances,” it’s tempting

to steel yourself for yet another

parable about the Yo uth of To day:

a vaguely tolerable millennial

protagonist dealing with a dash

of ennui here and a sprinkling of

existential angst there.

But wait! There’s a sassy tot

who will give the protagonist a

newfound purpose in life.

Instead, what emerges from

the feature debut of director Alex

Thompson and writer Kelly

O’Sullivan (who also plays the

main character) is a charming,

nuanced story with plenty to say

about making just that sort of

superficial judgment and about

what people are actually going

through beneath their carefully

crafted appearances.

O’Sullivan plays Bridget, a

3 4-year-old aimlessly waiting ta-

bles before bouncing to an equal-

ly uncertain seasonal babysitting

job. Her charge: precocious

6 -year-old Frances, played by Ra-

mona Edith-Williams, who

shines, in her first role, like a tiny

ball of light. From Bridget’s iro-

leads to an unplanned pregnancy.

This is discovered, charmingly,

after Bridget, loaded down with

an armful of Cookie Crisp cereal,

chocolate milk and wine, mental-

ly calculates that her period is

late and reaches for a pregnancy

test.

Thompson and O’Sullivan

bring sensitivity and an obser-

vant touch to the weighty pro-

ceedings: There’s no over-

wrought hand-wringing when

Bridget decides to get an abor-

tion, simply an assurance that

she is in control of her life.

But it’s the push-and-pull be-

tween B ridget a nd Frances that is

the poignant heart of the film.

Sure, Bridget c ould stand to grow

up a bit. But we never feel like

she’s coasting. If she’s dealt her-

self a bad hand — along with a

few self-inflicted w ounds — she’ll

deal with it. Frances, for her part,

is a little scamp, ever so gently

pushing the boundaries of what

her babysitter will tolerate. By

the end, the authenticity of their

bond feels so well-earned that

you might not mind watching

another movie about them grow-

ing up with each other.

In an otherwise succinct tale,

O’Sullivan’s script wobbles when

the focus shifts from that dynam-

ic. Bridget’s dalliance with a

m usic teacher feels shoehorned

into the story as a way for her to

learn a lesson of some kind — but

what that lesson might be, exact-

ly, isn’t clear. As for Annie and

Maya, their characters don’t be-

come three-dimensional until

late in the film — a welcome

gesture toward the questions

we’d r ather leave unspoken about

bringing life into the world — but

the transformation feels rushed.

The movie’s title is a vague nod

to Bridget’s faith — she’s a lapsed

Catholic — but its meaning

doesn’t resonate quite as power-

fully as the film’s c entral relation-

ship. That yarn is a promising

indicator that Thompson and

O’Sullivan may yet have more

stories to tell us about o ur capaci-

ty to grow and to treat each other

better.

[email protected]

corey stein/oscilloscope

Kelly O’Sullivan plays 34-year-old Bridget, who gets a job

babysitting 6 -year-old Frances (Ramona Edith-Williams).

Unrated. At the Avalon theatre.

contains mild language and some

mature thematic material.

106 minutes.

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