HORROR
We Need to Talk about Kevin 15
UK/USA | 2011 112 minutes
DIRECTED BY
Lynne Ramsay
STARRING
Tilda Swinton|John C. Reilly|Ezra Miller
Lynne Ramsay's uber psychological thriller, and best-film winner at the London Film Festival, is an excellent adaptation of Lionel Shriver’s book. It examines the parent-child bond (or lack of) between a first-time mother and her unplanned son. This horror-influenced masterwork shows just how this seemingly most natural of human connections is not always to be relied upon.
It is not the story of Kevin (played at his oldest stage by a coldly menacing Ezra Miller) so much as his mother Eva, brilliantly played by Tilda Swinton. To say they don't gel is an understatement. Her unintended motherhood breaks her down over many years, aided by Kevin himself who employs acts ranging from the numbingly mindless to the emotionally manipulative. Eva doesn't know why he is the way he is, and the screenplay is brave and wise in how much of this is explored and explained.
Ramsay uses a non-linear structure, following two timelines simultaneously. One precedes, the other follows. They lead to an event that merges the two, one so serious that it has shaped the lives of the family. The audience must piece together the chronology, sometimes retrospectively.
As with the director's previous works, like Ratcatcher (1999) and Morvern Callar (2002), some sequences in the film are heavy with artistry. Sound design, effects, colour palette and editing help the audience enter the mind of a woman who may be suffering a nervous breakdown, or may be the victim of one of the most vindictive characters in cinema history.
This is a film that could be analysed extensively, but perhaps it's best just to let it take you - you are in very safe hands. It's as much a rich sensory experience as an immersive case study into the psychology of the characters.
17 March 2025 MONDAY 19:30
AUDITORIUM
Tickets £8.00|£5.00 (under 26) CONCESSION NOT AVAILABLE ONLINE