Here is a tough drama of damaged lives which reunites director Sacha Polak with lead performer Vicky Knight, the star of her 2019 film Dirty God. Knight has spoken with courage about her own childhood experiences of being scarred in a pub fire in London and this film draws on her life, both in terms of her survivor’s story and her adult existence; like her character, she has worked in healthcare.
Knight plays Franky, a nurse haunted by memories of the blaze that injured her, and also by her unresolved feelings about her errant dad who ran out on the family when she was little. Franky falls in love with a troubled patient called Florence (Esmé Creed-Miles), who has tried to take her own life. Franky’s own home life with her sister and mother is complex and difficult and although Franky and Florence have their vulnerability and loneliness in common, she finds herself drawn into something approaching a quasi-daughter relationship with Florence’s caring foster mum Alice, as the relationship begins to disintegrate; this is a wise and warm performance from Angela Bruce.
Silver Haze is a sombre, thoughtful film about depression and what is (and isn’t) likely to promote emotional healing, performed with openness and honesty. It is a movie about anger and pain and often this makes for an angry and painful film, and it can be a tough watch sometimes. Some parts of it are more rewarding than others, and I found scenes of attempted vengeful violence alienating, realistic though their inclusion arguably is. But the relationships between Franky and Florence, and Franky and Alice, are managed with redemptive humanity and warmth.
• Silver Haze is in UK and Irish cinemas from 29 March.
• In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
