TIFF '23: Jodie Comer astounds in "The End We Start From"
Friday, September 15, 2023 at 2:00PM by Matt St Clair
The first glance of the title The End We Start From, immediately brough the past few years to mind. Once the COVID pandemic turned the world upside down, we all lived in physical and mental isolation, fearing what the coming days would bring. While the virus hasn’t disappeared, we have found ways to move forward and start anew during uncertain times. This film's nameless protagonist (a sublime Jodie Comer) experiences a cataclysmic crisis and does the same thing.
Just as the heroine has given birth to a newborn, a catastrophic flood strikes England...
She and her partner (Joel Fry) are forced to flee with their new baby to the countryside where his parents live. While they do find sanctuary in this temporary residence, problems such as famine and separation arise. The Woman must forge on even if she doesn’t know what danger may await her and her baby in the film's second half.
Her evergreen panic and compulsive need to carry on no matter what lies ahead are well-telegraphed on Jodie Comer’s expressive face. Comer – who has just been crushing it lately between her Emmy for Killing Eve and the Tony for Prima Facie – adds another transfixing performance to her dynamic resumé.
With that said, she’s not the picture’s only standout. Every bit Comer’s equal is Katherine Waterston as O, a mother with whom the Woman crosses paths. Waterston conveys warmth, sardonic humor, and gradual heartbreak on screen as O aids the Woman on her treacherous journey. Waterston's become an underrated performer since her magnetic breakthrough in Inherent Vice so her scene-stealing work in The End We Start From is a stark reminder of how compelling she can be.
Comer and Waterston make a captivating on-screen pair and supporting actors like Joel Fry, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Mark Strong do wonders with minimal roles. That's especially true of Joel Fry, as he devastatingly portrays the mental toll the environmental crisis takes on people. Indeed, all of the performances captivate in this dystopian tale delicately written by Alice Birch (Lady Macbeth). Instead of focusing on how things got to where they are, Birch emphasizes more on the people dealing with what is. Unlike larger scale disaster movies that focus on the protagonists as they experience the disaster, Birch and director Mahalia Belo – making her feature debut – opt for a more intimate, but still tense, telling of the aftermath. A-
The End We Start From is screening as part of the Gala Presentations section at TIFF. It is also set for release on December 8th by Republic Pictures.
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