‘The Surprise’ Assessment: You Will not Imagine Sebastián Lelio’s Newest

The Lord works in mysterious methods, Christians are keen on telling us. Extra mysterious nonetheless is the matter of religion, a uniquely human thought which operates on the precept that phenomena we are able to’t clarify are true, not as a result of we perceive them however as a result of we don’t have to.

Set in an virtually medieval-feeling 1862, “The Wonder” asks audiences to ponder the which means of a miracle. Is it attainable, because the religious residents of a small Irish neighborhood consider, for an 11-year-old woman to outlive for 4 months with out meals? The kid, Anna O’Donnell (Kíla Lord Cassidy), all of a sudden stopped consuming, and swears that since then, she’s been sustained by “manna from heaven.” As phrase of this “marvel” unfold, pilgrims have come to see the phenomenon for themselves. Native authorities understandably have their doubts, calling for an English nurse, Lib Wright (Florence Pugh), to watch the state of affairs.

An outwardly stoic however inwardly bluesy soul who might herself be in want of saving, Lib is a modern-minded lady of science. She’s assured that Anna couldn’t be this wholesome with out consuming on the sly, however there’s no solution to show it. (Technically, there may be, crass as it could sound: As an alternative of specializing in what goes in to Anna’s mouth, she would possibly simply put the matter to relaxation by inspecting what, if something, comes out the opposite finish. In any case, the film works higher if it’s one particular person’s religion in opposition to one other’s.) Lib insists on logic, which suggests some form of trickery have to be concerned, whereas the city physician (Toby Jones) and his all-male council (together with the realm priest, performed by Ciarán Hinds) consider in divine intervention.

With “The Surprise,” Sebastián Lelio, the gifted Chilean director answerable for “Gloria” and its English-language remake, “Gloria Bell” (in addition to 2018 Oscar winner “A Unbelievable Girl”), has delivered an evenhanded however in the end preposterous adaptation of Emma Donoghue’s novel, co-written by the writer herself (with an help from Alice Birch). The e book was revealed inside the previous decade however makes each effort to evoke its mid-Nineteenth-century milieu, as does Lelio, who pushes the coarse handmade costumes, dreary candlelit interiors and mud-mired Midland areas so closely that you just approach nicely neglect you’re streaming this Netflix authentic on an iPad.

Then how one can clarify the movie’s Brechtian framing machine? Lelio opens on a soundstage, drawing our consideration to the artifice: “Howdy, this can be a film known as ‘The Surprise,’” a girl welcomes (supporting actor Niamh Algar, so compelling in tiny doses, you would like she had extra to do right here). Motion pictures aren’t actual, this uncommon introduction reminds, however their feelings will be. “We invite you to consider on this one,” continues the narrator, as DP Ari Wegner (“Girl Macbeth”) tracks left from a farmhouse set to the maintain of a ship to seek out Pugh, deep in character.

It’s not clear what the movie features from this self-conscious setup, particularly since Lelio proceeds to provide his principally feminine solid enough space to make their characters really feel true. As soon as Lib arrives in Eire, the film commits to her actuality. Just some years earlier, the Irish Potato Famine pummeled the area, ravenous roughly 1,000,000, and meals continues to be treasured in most individuals’s minds. “The Surprise” doesn’t emphasize this overly, although you may sense it in Lib’s frustration when her employers name her away from no matter gruel was to be her first meal on the boardinghouse the place she’s staying (a spot with practically a dozen hungry mouths to feed).

Lib quickly learns that she’s not the one nurse they’ve engaged, although the opposite is not any medical skilled; she’s a nun. The 2 ladies are to take turns watching Anna and report on their findings. Nonetheless politely critical Lelio’s method, it’s a typical sufficient horror-movie trope to ship in an skilled to look at somebody exhibiting supernatural conduct, à la “The Exorcist” or “The Sixth Sense.” However “The Surprise” is just not a horror film. Neither is it the form of movie the place a skeptic is swayed by what she sees (one other acquainted machine in such movies, the place the director can bend the principles of nature to go well with their level). When Lib first meets Anna, she’s impressed by the woman’s conviction. Believers typically get pleasure from a serenity that atheists can’t, in a position to offload their anxieties to a better energy. Cassidy, who so eerily embodies Anna, faucets into that peace. However the woman is just not with out secrets and techniques.

To make her research extra scientific, Lib forbids any form of bodily contact between Anna and her mother and father. Virtually instantly, the woman’s well being begins to hunch. Right here, the film appears to suggest that Lib is justified in her means: She’s attending to the Reality. Nevertheless it’s her rule that’s endangering Anna’s life, and the way in which she resolves the state of affairs (with the assistance of a London journalist, performed by Tom Burke) is ethically corrupt and downright inexcusable — a 3rd get together deciding what’s proper for another person’s baby.

The “proper factor” is relative, particularly when faith is concerned, and unpacking Lib’s choice certainly would have made for a stronger movie — one thing like Ian McEwan’s “The Youngsters Act” maybe, during which a decide should select whether or not to intervene on behalf of a terminally ailing baby whose Jehovah’s Witnesses mother and father are refusing him remedy. As an alternative, Lelio offers us scenes of Lib sipping opium alone in her room, forlornly caressing a pair of child booties — a reminder of the private tragedies she carries along with her and a justification of types for the movie’s wildly miscalculated ending, whereby characters who’d been caught residing one narrative are in a position to reinvent themselves in a recent one in every of their very own selecting.