The Wonder

After a very long hiatus, I felt that this was a review that I needed to write since I have such contradictory feelings about the movie. First of all, I had very much appreciated the novel by Emma Donoghue on which it’s based; so that always makes it tricky.

Then the filmmakers make an odd choice to open with a weird bit on a contemporary sound stage. I can accept their gamble that it could have added to the experience (it didn’t), but the only value was drawing unnecessary attention to the role of people’s beliefs in and need for stories – unnecessary because the film accomplished that on its own without distracting choices.  

The cinematography and acting were quite good, though there was something about the inside details of the sets that didn’t seem completely convincing (but that’s just being nitpicky). Far more serious, is that it soon becomes clear that the soundtrack represented an even greater gamble, and in my view it was a complete and utter failure. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that it was the most ill-matched soundtrack I’ve ever heard, and it was a huge distraction for me. I found that frustrating because I would love to have overlooked some of the other weaknesses and recommended the film, but I just don’t think I can. If you do watch, I would seriously consider watching with the volume very low and the subtitles on.

There were other weaknesses. The relationship between Lib and Anna and between Anna and Will both contain none of the depth of what was possible in the book. Partly that could be inevitable. There were moments between Lib and Anna that nearly broke through but not quite. I don’t think the screenplay helped. And weirdly played scenes with Lib’s private nightly ritual and Kitty’s half-hearted attempts to break the 4th wall left me feeling like this was simply not the film to hand to a director like Lelio; it was just a poor fit.

The sad thing was that the potential was significant, especially in the last half hour. There we see the danger and the power of narrative – ideas that are very important to me. The night I watched, I nearly wrote off the film because I was disappointed by much and horrified by the soundtrack. But the potency of its understanding of narrative and release and inspiration stuck with me and rebounded with energy the next day. I wonder whether excerpts could have their effect without bothering with the whole film…

In the end, I give it *** with too much that was precious spilled on bad decisions.

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