COMPETING NARRATIVES (THE WONDER)

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The thing about great actors is their ability to make the ordinary look extraordinary.

With 14 films under her belt, Florence Pugh is already proving to be that kind of actor.

In movies like 'Lady Macbeth,' 'Midsommar' and 'Little Women' she has delivered intelligent performances that have marked her out as a remarkable talent.

But even in crowd pleasing movies like 'Fighting With My Family' and 'Black Widow,' she has shown how she can elevate those films. 

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Fresh from her appearance in 'Don't Worry Darling,' Pugh is back onscreen in Chilean director Sebastian Leilo's Irish period drama 'The Wonder'.

And it is that ability to make the ordinary seem extraordinary - even something as normal as chewing food at a dinner table - that makes her performance so compelling.

Adapted from the 2016 novel of the same name by Emma Donnoghue, 'The Wonder' fizzes with loads of ideas.

The big one is the competing narratives of religious belief versus faith in science.

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Then there's the tension between Pugh's English nurse and the Irish rural community she has been catapulted into that has been scarred by the Famine.

There's the patriarchy who lord it over all the women in the film.

Finally, there's the relationship between the visual storyteller and the audience.

Leilo rather bravely punctures the illusion of the period drama with a long shot at the start of the movie of what initially appears to be an empty film set.

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"This is the beginning of a film called 'The Wonder'," a voiceover from Niamh Algar declares in this most arresting of opening sequences.

"The people you are about to meet, the characters, believe in their story with complete devotion."

As she speaks, cinematographer Ari Wegner's camera slowly roams around the set until it settles on Florence Pugh and other actors in period costume on what is supposed to be a boat while she eats.

Suddenly we are right in the heart of the drama which unfolds a decade after the Great Famine.

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Pugh's nurse Lib Wright has been summoned to the Irish Midlands to observe an 11 year old girl, Kila Lord Cassidy's Anna O'Donnell who reportedly hasn't eaten food for four months but has miraculously not lost any weight.

When she arrives in the village, Lib meets with some hostility from the locals as she rooms in a hostelry run by David Wilmot's publican Sean Ryan and his wife, Ruth Bradley's Maggie.

No sooner has she sat at the breakfast table on her first morning than she is whisked away by Sean to a meeting with Ciaran Hinds' local priest Fr Thaddeus, Toby Jones' Dr McBrearty, Dermot Crowley's Sir Otway and Brian F O'Byrne's gruff landlord John Flynn.

Joined by Josie Walker's Sister Michael, they are tasked with recording their observations of Anna over eight hour shifts to help the council determine whether a genuine miracle is occurring.

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Lib is deeply sceptical of claims that it is a miracle and is eager to understand how Anna is being fed.

Accompanied by Dr McBrearty, she heads to the O'Donnells' cottage where they are greeted in Irish by Anna's elder sister, Niamh Algar's Kitty.

The O'Donnells are a deeply religious family, with Anna's mum Elaine Cassidy's Rosaleen and father, Caolan Byrne's Malachy insisting it's a miracle.

Word of Anna's fast has spread far and wide, with the family entertaining visitors who pay into a "poor box" to be in the presence of a religious phenomenon.

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Getting to know Anna, Lib is struck by her extensive knowledge of Catholic saints, playing with cards depicting them.

She quickly discovers the O'Donnells have lost a son - something that strikes a chord with her as she lost a baby and a husband.

No stranger to suffering, Lib also reveals she nursed dying soldiers during the Crimean War.

The sudden appearance of a local man turned Daily Telegraph journalist, Tom Burke's William Byrne to cover the story further ratchets up tensions in the village.

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Byrne's back story is tinged with tragedy top and, like Lib, he is sceptical of claims that a miracle is occurring.

Keen to interview Anna, he lobbies Lib to facilitate a meeting and tries to squeeze information out of her.

Lib quickly finds herself in conflict with her employers over the levels of contact Anna has with other people and the impact it is having on her ability to effectively observe whether the girl's fast is a hoax or a genuine miracle.

But cutting off contact would mean potentially cutting off any food source which could have fatal consequences for Anna.

Adapted for the screen by Donnoghue, who was Oscar nominated for her adaptation of her own novel 'Room' and 'Normal People' scriptwriter Alice Birch, 'The Wonder' throws up some fascinating tensions between religion and science, the Irish and the English, fantasy and fact, the artifice of storytelling and reality.

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Leilo and his screenwriters raise some stirring questions around grief and family.

But what strikes you most about 'The Wonder' is how it is daring in a way that so few films are these days.

Leilo uses Algar as a cypher throughout the film to remind audiences of the artifice of movie storytelling in a way that is reminiscent of the late Jean Luc Godard.

At one point towards the end of a scene, Algar breaks the fourth wall and she bookends the movie with a particularly striking final image.

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It's a clever narrative device, designed to keep audience members in check who are happy to suspend belief watching movies but are quick to condemn those who swallow religious tales.

The Chilean director doesn't flinch from addressing in his film more challenging issues of abuse and eating disorders.

The film is bolstered by superb performances from Algar, Elaine Cassidy, Byrne, Jones, Hinds, O Byrne, Crowley, Wilmot, Bradley and Walker and it boasts a script that never succumbs to 'Ryan's Daughter' style Oirish stereotypes.

In her first screen role, Kila Lord Cassidy is superb in a part that is given extra spice by the fact her real life mum, Elaine Cassidy is playing her onscreen mother.

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The young actress is wonderfully fragile in the role of Anna and she fits very comfortably in with much more experienced screen actors.

Burke is excellent too as Byrne, keeping the audience guessing for much of the film as to whether his character really is worthy of our trust.

However it is Pugh who most impresses, brilliantly depicting a woman of science, a non believer who uses opium to nurse her own grief but also feels helpless as she observes an 11 year old who could die if she doesn't resume eating.

Like all great actors, Pugh knows body language is as important as the dialogue you utter and she uses her eyes to powerful effect.

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Every mouthful of food she chews is a disturbing reminder of Anna's predicament. 

Every sip of her opium medicine underscores the depth of her grief.

With the help of costume designer Odile Dicks-Mireaux and some wonderful weather beaten sets created by production designer Grant Montgomery and set decorator Margot Cullen, Leilo conjures up some striking imagery that looks like something out of a 19th Century painting.

In particular, Wegner's camera makes great use of the damp, wintry, rugged feel of the Irish countryside.

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All of these elements ensure that  'The Wonder' is a film you won't forget in a hurry.

Haunting, aesthetically pleasing and very daring in how it executes its plot, it's a film you will be pondering for some time.

'The Wonder' is a movie that raises plenty of questions but offers few easy answers.

It is cinema for grown ups.

Thank God or whatever you choose to believe that films like this are still being made.

('The Wonder' was released in select UK and Irish cinemas on November 2, 2022 and was made available for streaming on Netflix on November 16, 2022)