The Wonder (2022) - Movie Review

Sebastián Lelio’s latest film is a mesmerizingly peculiar and distinctly literary story of innocence, terror, and colonial guilt, adapted from Emma Donoghue’s novel. The film tells the story of a young girl’s mysterious possession by divine grace, which is nothing short of an anti-miracle. The movie could be paired with The Exorcist, as it features similar themes.

Florence Pugh plays Lib, an English nurse, with a pugnacious and forthright intensity. In 1862, she is commissioned by a group of pompous male priests and dignitaries to be an expert witness in examining what appears to be a miracle unfolding before their eyes in a village in rural Ireland. A young girl named Anna has not eaten for four months, and yet appears to be entirely healthy. Her parents, Rosaleen (Elaine Cassidy) and Malachy (Coalán Byrne), receive a constant stream of true believers in their cottage, who are allowed upstairs to speak with the sweet-natured, pious child. Anna is played brilliantly by Elaine Cassidy’s daughter, newcomer Kíla Lord Cassidy.

Lib is tasked with keeping watch over Anna to ensure she is not hiding food. She alternates every eight hours with a nun, who has the same task, so that both medicine and faith cover their mission. At first, Lib is skeptical, as is the charming journalist William Byrne (Tom Burke), who hangs around the local pub to cover the story for the English press. However, little by little, Lib falls under Anna’s serene spell. Lelio shows that, like everyone else, Lib needs to believe in miracles. She has a hidden trauma that has caused her to become addicted to laudanum, and she has a tendency towards ritualistic self-harm.

As for young Anna, she has instinctively intuited everyone’s agony and ecstatically embraced her vocation as a human sacrifice. In a country still haunted by the Great Famine and colonially created hunger, Englishwoman Lib feels this most acutely. Her desperate threat to force-feed Anna is a queasy premonition of imperial confrontations to come.

Pugh’s sensuality, passion, and human sympathy are the driving forces of the film, which might otherwise buckle under the weight of its contrivances. Lelio and co-screenwriters Donoghue and Alice Birch seem to acknowledge this with a theatrical framing device, distancing us from the melodrama. Nonetheless, Pugh’s powerful performance conveys the central paradox: to unlock this mystery, Lib must surrender to it and believe in it in order to gain Anna’s trust and discover the child’s own awful secret. The wonder reverberates with the pangs of hunger and fear.

Florence Pugh delivers a towering performance in Sebastián Lelio's visually stunning film, "The Wonder." As the character of Lib, Pugh brings a sense of tenderness and world-weariness, having experienced immense loss and witnessed unspeakable horrors during her service in Crimea. Through her portrayal of Lib, Pugh masterfully conveys the intense struggle between faith and science, grief and love, that permeates the film.

A slow-burning psychological thriller, "The Wonder" is a haunting exploration of themes such as faith, passion, sin, and redemption. Based on Emma Donoghue's novel of the same name, the film takes viewers on a disturbing and dream-like journey, delving deep into the complexities of the human psyche. Lelio's direction is nothing short of brilliant, and the film's stunning visuals serve to heighten the eerie and unsettling atmosphere that pervades every frame.

Florence Pugh delivers a captivating performance that propels Sebastián Lelio's gripping adaptation of Emma Donoghue's tale of divine possession, "The Wonder." In the film, Pugh portrays the character of Lib, an English nurse who is summoned to investigate the miraculous case of a young girl named Anna. Despite not consuming any food for months, Anna appears to be healthy and unaffected. As Lib tries to uncover the truth behind Anna's enigmatic condition, she becomes entranced by the child's serene and devout demeanor, ultimately uncovering a startling and unsettling revelation.

Lelio's film is a haunting exploration of faith, guilt, and the human psyche, and Pugh's commanding portrayal of Lib injects the narrative with a palpable intensity that keeps viewers riveted from start to finish.

The Wonder is set to release on 2022 November 2nd in theaters and on November 16th on Netflix.