Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Emily Beecham | ... | Daphne | |
Geraldine James | ... | Rita | |
Tom Vaughan-Lawlor | ... | Joe | |
Nathaniel Martello-White | ... | David | |
Karina Fernandez | ... | Beth | |
Osy Ikhile | ... | Tom | |
Ritu Arya | ... | Rachida | |
Stuart McQuarrie | ... | Adam | |
Sinead Matthews | ... | Billie | |
Ryan McParland | ... | Jay | |
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Amra Mallassi | ... | Benny |
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Matthew Pidgeon | ... | Nacho |
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Rania Kurdi | ... | Sofia |
Ruth Bradley | ... | Tracey | |
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Erica Guyatt | ... | Cashier |
Daphne, 31, Londoner. Busy days, hectic nights, friends, people, lovers, are all welcome distractions from the constant and creeping feeling that her life is somehow stuck. Too young too settle quietly, too old to keep on messing about without aim. One night, an unexpected event slowly but steadily forces her to confront this existential limbo head on, and start looking very closely at the person she has become.
Ignore all the reviews calling it boring, empty etc, written I assume by people that like explosions and flashing things but can't invest a little bit of effort in trying to appreciate a film that attempts to provoke thought and discussion
Performances are excellent especially from Emma Beecham, I sometimes had to remind myself this was a scripted film, so natural was her portrayal of Daphne - I mean is she really just Daphne filmed fly on the wall?? Brilliant
I loved her kind of offhand 'acting' complete with lines delivered so life like it was hard to tell if she had just come up with that stuff - and the direction where actors dialogue is left to happen in a very natural way - stunted, overlaps, talk overs - hard to act, and you can see some actors struggling with it, defaulting to more polished delivery.
I was drawn in by Daphne's frustrating, abrasive character and her descent in to self loathing - she's not easy to like, but that's the point - why is she like this, why does she not care about herself or much else
The film has a few clunky parts, like the psychiatrist for example, and some of the script and character development is under cooked but maybe that kind of fits with the impressionistic feel - over all the film offers real rewards for those willing to really watch and listen