Anna Kendrick gives a vehement, self-aware lead performance in this Gaslight-style suspense drama about a young woman trapped in a coercive, abusive relationship from screenwriter Alanna Francis and debut feature director Mary Nighy. There are some edge-of-the-seat moments and interestingly subtle tonal inflexions, though the story spends time on a contrived subplot about a missing girl, time that might have been better devoted to developing the central thriller storyline.
Alice (Kendrick) is in a toxic relationship with Simon (Charlie Carrick), an arrogant, controlling man with an uncertain career as an artist, in constant need of reassurance and always tracking Alice’s movements. When Alice is allowed out for a rare evening at a bar with her two best friends Tess (Kaniehtiio Horn) and Sophie (Wunmi Mosaku), we can see how glassy-eyed Alice’s smile is, how tensely distracted, how she flinches at each ping from her phone. She is no longer the vivacious friend Tess and Sophie once knew and loved; she appears to have issues with food and her hair is thin.
Francis’s script allows us to notice that her friend Tess is also an artist (but less successful than obnoxious, strutting Simon), and we can see the queasy irony in Alice having possibly met Simon in Tess’s circle, and how he is coldly taking her away from them. Tensely aware that Simon won’t like it, Alice accepts an invitation to go away on a vacation with Tess and Sophie but tells him it’s a work trip she can’t get out of. How long will Simon be fooled by that?
Kendrick is capable of creating an arrhythmic heartbeat of tension and fear in her screen presence: this is someone who is gradually being deprived of emotional oxygen. But sometimes the tendons in the script go slack – and there is also something here which doesn’t quite allow the relationship between Alice and her friends, and relationship of Tess and Sophie with each other, to become fully three-dimensional. Well, it’s a very strong performance from Kendrick, who disturbingly conveys the tiny and not so tiny symptoms of emotional abuse.
• Alice, Darling is released on 20 January in cinemas in the US and UK with an Australian release date to be confirmed.
• In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org.
