We've seen this story before; in 18th century Brittany, 19th century Sicily, the Jurassic Coast and now on the American frontier.
The film starts cold and desolate; the scenery and the tone reminded me of "The Witch". The score, oftentimes foreboding, perfectly highlights the film's melancholia. It's a poetic movie, its prose languid yet charged. Stony yet lush. And the chemistry between Vanessa Kirby (Tallie) and Katherine Waterston (Abigail) radiates.
Unfortunately just like other lesbian films, it suffers from clichés: lonely star-crossed lovers, longing glances and one-dimensional (and unsurprisingly sexist) cardboard cutout husbands, it's a case of 'take something old and make it new' but it is a beautiful movie nonetheless and both Kirby and Waterston offer phenomenal performances.
"The World to Come" unlike "Ammonite" doesn't make a shocking explosion that feels disconnected from an otherwise consistent film; instead it builds up a fire, leisurely going through all the stages like that of a burning building: incipient, fire in its initial stage. A growth albeit an unsteady one. A fully developed fire, and inevitably...decay.
The fire between Abigail and Tallie knows no frontiers and it holds up an unsteady but defiant flame only to be abruptly extinguished. It ultimately leaves both the film and the audience cold. "The World to Come" is as bleak as "Ammonite" but not as lifeless.
The film starts cold and desolate; the scenery and the tone reminded me of "The Witch". The score, oftentimes foreboding, perfectly highlights the film's melancholia. It's a poetic movie, its prose languid yet charged. Stony yet lush. And the chemistry between Vanessa Kirby (Tallie) and Katherine Waterston (Abigail) radiates.
Unfortunately just like other lesbian films, it suffers from clichés: lonely star-crossed lovers, longing glances and one-dimensional (and unsurprisingly sexist) cardboard cutout husbands, it's a case of 'take something old and make it new' but it is a beautiful movie nonetheless and both Kirby and Waterston offer phenomenal performances.
"The World to Come" unlike "Ammonite" doesn't make a shocking explosion that feels disconnected from an otherwise consistent film; instead it builds up a fire, leisurely going through all the stages like that of a burning building: incipient, fire in its initial stage. A growth albeit an unsteady one. A fully developed fire, and inevitably...decay.
The fire between Abigail and Tallie knows no frontiers and it holds up an unsteady but defiant flame only to be abruptly extinguished. It ultimately leaves both the film and the audience cold. "The World to Come" is as bleak as "Ammonite" but not as lifeless.