Suddenly Ingmar Bergman seems to be fashionable again. Just last week I watched Black Bear, a film with a hint of Bergmanâs Persona. Now, in The Nest, thereâs touches of Bergmanâs Scenes from a Marriage.
Which means that if youâre looking for fireworks, youâve come to the wrong film. The Nest is a journey into dark psychological territory so muted that it would be easy to miss whatâs going on.
On the surface things look pretty peachy â Rory OâHara (Jude Law) is a successful trader whoâs moved his family from New York back to the UK, where Rory has used his huge Wall Street bonanza to rent a massive Elizabethan mansion â Led Zeppelin once stayed here! From here heâs going to relaunch himself back into the City of London, where 1980s deregulation is about to create an ocean of financial opportunity. Heâs got a pretty wife, Allison (Carrie Coon), and lovely kids, Sam and Ben (Oona Roche, Charlie Shotwell) too.
Things are not quite as they appear. The money isnât quite as available as it should be, though the OâHaras donât seem to lack for anything. Nor is Roryâs return to the City quite as bathed in glory as heâd anticipated. Asked but never quite answered is the reason for Roryâs return from the USA in the first place. After all, Wall Street is where the big bucks are being made and Rory is all about the big bucks. It was somewhere around this point Michael Douglas was pulling on his red braces and warming up his âgreed is goodâ mantra in the Wall Street movie. So what is going on?
This is writer/director Sean Durkinâs first film since 2011âs Martha Marcy May Marlene. That was a story about a young woman whoâd escaped a cult. It sidestepped genre conventions and so does The Nest, being, under it all, the story of a man, a marriage and a family going into meltdown.
In both films Durkin is acutely aware that itâs often whatâs not being said thatâs important. Key scene in The Nest, though one that could easily have ended up on the cutting-room floor, is the one between Rory and his mother (Anne Reid), who heâs not seen for at least ten years. And when he turns up at her council flat itâs also obvious he hasnât been in touch all that time either. In a cagey bit of to and fro she learns that she has a grandson (âTen!â she harrumphs when she finds out how old Ben is). And we can see, looking at the picture that Rory is showing her, that heâs chosen one that doesnât include his wifeâs daughter Sam as part of his family. Thatâs telling.
There are more to their exchanges than the words being said. Reid is a great bit of casting here, a remarkable actor, her face and body language saying the unsayable. Law is also on peak form as the handsome, charmer whose heart, what we can see of it, seems dark. But then there isnât a duff performance by any of the cast, who are all operating on the same âshow but donât tellâ instruction.
As with Martha Marcy May Marlene, Durkin actually goes to the trouble of rounding out peripheral characters. Wife Allison has her own business and is a more formidable person, Rory is finding, now sheâs not so happy with her living arrangements. Ben is having trouble at school; Sam is hanging out with the local party animals. At work Roryâs boss is City dinosaur Arthur Davis (Michael Culkin) and thereâs Steve (Adeel Akhtar), the underling who, Rory hasnât realised, might be more savvy than he gives him credit for.
The Nest is a funny title for a film like this. Itâs a horror movie title, and maybe at some level thatâs what this is. Itâs also one of those films that doesnât so much end as conclude â the camera fades to black and announces that thatâs where weâre leaving the OâHara family, though, somewhere, out there, their story continues.
The Nest â Watch it/buy it at Amazon
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Š Steve Morrissey 2021
