Ah, the English countryside. Birds, old houses with character, ancient forests, even more ancient dieties. Hats off to Rory Kinnear and Jessie Buckley here, particularly Kinnear who pulled off multiple roles, each one more stereotypically English than the other. Anyone not familiar with the green man legends (and it's probably worth a quick read before watching this) may struggle a little, but a lot of pagan mythology revolves around a male diety with a face surrounded by leaves - the green man - and a female diety with her legs spread open - sheela na gig. Life, rebirth and death are continual themes through the film, the most disturbing being the broken corpse of Buckley's husband, who died tragically after falling from a balcony. His death haunts Buckley, as they were fighting beforehand, he struck her, and she threw him out, only to see him falling past the window moments later, where they make eye contact.
There's enough on the internet to dissect the film, its mythology and the ending, so cutting to the chase, it is worth a watch as a horror? Very much so. Take away the supernatural, and this would have worked as a decent psychological horror, right up until the last 10 mins (which I wasn't a huge fan of, although I understand why it was necessary). Most women have been in uncomfortable situations with men, and felt scared and vulnerable. The power shifts here are continual, as Buckley's character tries to reason and gain back control as things get progressively weirder and scarier. I found the ending a little unsatisfying, but on the whole the film really delivers. Buckley seems to go from strength to strength in her career and deservedly so, this is an outstanding performance.
There's enough on the internet to dissect the film, its mythology and the ending, so cutting to the chase, it is worth a watch as a horror? Very much so. Take away the supernatural, and this would have worked as a decent psychological horror, right up until the last 10 mins (which I wasn't a huge fan of, although I understand why it was necessary). Most women have been in uncomfortable situations with men, and felt scared and vulnerable. The power shifts here are continual, as Buckley's character tries to reason and gain back control as things get progressively weirder and scarier. I found the ending a little unsatisfying, but on the whole the film really delivers. Buckley seems to go from strength to strength in her career and deservedly so, this is an outstanding performance.