Hope. Love. Tragedy. Despair. We desire the first pair of words. We dread the second pair. When we experience all five of these emotions in the order presented here, what comes after experiencing despair? Death? Rebirth? Complacency. If the suffering is deep enough, is any coming out of it? Do we even want to? Do we believe that we can find joy again? If we do, will we recognize it? Will we embrace it? In Mona Fastvold’s (The Sleepwalker) The World To Come, we spend 98 minutes with Abigail (Katherine Waterston – Mid90s, Alien: Covenant), a grieving mother who has spent the year before unsuccessfully trying to process her young daughter’s death.
Set in an unidentified part of the United States northeastern seaborn frontier in 1856, Fastvold’s story commences with Abigail writing out her feelings in a journal. We are granted distinguished access to her most honest and heartfelt reasons by narrating some of her journal entries. Reserved by nature, Abigail pours out her loneliness, misery, and grief that one might typically express with another going through a similar emotional loss, in this case, with her spouse. Her marriage to Dyer (Casey Affleck – Manchester By the Sea, Light of My Life) is distant. Dyer isn’t a mean man or a bad husband. He processes his loss differently and feels that opening up about such real feelings is a sign of weakness. Thus, on her never-ceasing duties on her desolate farm that she and Dyer tend to do without the assistance of others, she’s left to keep her emotions to herself. With her initial dreams of an uprooted family, Abigail longs for something more. Seemingly destined to be that of a mournful housewife, we long for her happiness almost as much as she does.
When Tallie (Vanessa Kirby – Pieces of a Woman, Mission: Impossible: Fallout) and Finney (Christopher Abbott – First Man, It Comes at Night) move to a nearby farm, we instantly believe that Abigail’s fortunes will turn for the better. By this point in the film, we expect something on the horizon for Abigail. The film’s dreariness by that point can’t get much worse. The only thing that feels colder than the blistery winter conditions is the icy relationship between her and Dyer. From simple dinner meals void of conversation to evenings in front of a crackling fire to Dyer’s unsuccessful attempts at the nighttime physical release he needs, there is an uneven rockiness to a marriage that might have been able to survive just about anything. Just not the death of their one and only child. Abigail and Dyer are both likable characters, each of whom we might befriend. Just because two people are likable, kind, and get along doesn’t necessarily mean that they belong with one another. There is love between the couple, but their unprocessed loss has driven a wedge between them, something that unspoken words could attempt to fix, but those we know aren’t coming.
Tallie is Abigail’s polar opposite. She is loud and outspoken. She isn’t nearly as dutiful to Finney as Abigail is to her husband. She’s a free spirit who’s not afraid to talk back to Finney if that’s what it takes to get her point across. Their marriage has more friction than that of Abigail and Dyer. While anything but loving, I think we’d all choose the relationship between Abigail and Dyer over that of Tallie and Finney, a point driven home by Fastvold. Finney is the film’s most unlikeable character by far. He is disconnected and aloof. There is a meanness in him towards his Tallie that should never be displayed behind closed doors, let alone in front of the company of others. However, Finney fails to follow any social norms, and it’s no wonder that Tallie tries to find comfort elsewhere.
As the husbands tend to their vocations, Abigail and Tallie find joy in each other’s company through lighthearted walks in the fields, sharing gossip while enjoying tea together in one of their two homes, or confiding in one another more intimate thoughts. Their initial glances towards one another result in coy but recognizable and mutual smiles. As they find more commonalities and reasons to dream, their intimacy builds. Soon, their emotional connection finally explodes into a physical one we’ve been anticipating and rooting for since she first paraded onto her land with Finney. But how quiet and hidden can two people keep a forbidden love? With their husbands noticing both the increased time spent together and the increased pop in their steps, we know there will soon be a confrontation between Abigail and Tallie’s newfound hopes and dreams.
The World To Come wasn’t the only movie from the year revolving around a secret love from that period between two women. The Kate Winslet/ Saoirse Ronan-led Ammonite received far more promotion. Ronan was considered a good shot at a Best Actress Oscar nomination. Critics’ views were mixed, and while the film has an 85% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes among audiences, it earned less than $500,000 domestically (this number isn’t entirely indicative of it being a box office bomb as a vast majority of movies received direct-to-home releases during the pandemic).
Ammonite was a great movie in itself and far more erotic and sensual than The World To Come. The Waterston/Kirby-led film was far more subtle, subdued, and likely indicative of the 1800s (during which both movies were set). With both movies, I felt the intense rawness of both leads (Winslet in Ammonite). I enjoyed the story of The World To Come more than I did Ammonite. I wasn’t as sure about the lead character’s predicament with the latter, nor was there the same supporting cast to advance the storyline. Ammonite felt like a story fragment, whereas The World To Come felt like an account of completion.
The World To Come is one of my top ten movies of 2020. While not as original or timely as many other movies released from the subpar year, its execution and realism are something to be admired. When captured effectively on any medium, human emotion can be one of life’s most beautiful and tragic creations. To reach the pinnacle of each of these in a single hour and a half story is an achievement on its own.
As someone who has found himself in deep despair plenty of times in my first 45 years, I was immersed in Abigail’s desire to change the direction of her downtrodden life when she was given a chance. Waterston created one of the most relatable characters of the year. Kirby, Affleck, and Abbott were well cast as the complimentary foils to our soft-spoken, introspective lead. Slow but not dull, The World To Come is a compelling drama that will have you examining your own life and relationships while wondering how you might react if you lost your main reason for living. What would you be willing to do to feel anything other than the perpetual sadness that would encompass such pain?
Plot 8/10
Character Development 8.5/10
Character Chemistry 9/10
Acting 9.5/10
Screenplay 8.5/10
Directing 8/10
Cinematography 10/10
Sound 8/10
Hook and Reel 8/10
Universal Relevance 9/10
86.5%
Movies You Might Like If You Liked This Movie
- Ammonite
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- Carol
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