Director: Niall MacCormick
Cast: Jessica Brown Findlay, Sebastien Koch, Julia Ormond, Felicity Jones, Peter Vaughan, Harry Treadaway, Thomas Brodie Sangster, Katie Overd
Running Time: 90 mins
Certificate: 15
Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Emelia (Brown Findlay) is a free spirit with a dark past. She is drifting through life until she starts her new job at The Cliff House, a small hotel on the South Coast of England, run by the dysfunctional and idiosyncratic Fischer family.
Jonathan Fischer (Koch) is an author, working on his notoriously difficult second book, and his daughter, Beth (Jones) is cramming for her exams; desperately seeking to escape to University. Emelia strikes up a friendship with Beth, and becomes Jonathan’s student because she is an aspiring writer. However, both Emelia and the Fischer family are brought to their knees when her burgeoning affair with Jonathan comes to light.
Tamzin Rafn’s first feature screenplay is a joy to behold at times. Its eclectic mix of characters and comical moments induces
frequent chortling and charms the viewer. Conversely, the plot leaves multiple unanswered questions, which, of course, could be intentional. However, intentional or not, the fact remains that these unresolved arcs do not correlate with the context of the film or the genre it inhabits. It is a comedy-drama, and it follows the classic formulaic structure in numerous ways. Thematically, stylistically, and even structurally, ALBATROSS plays by the book, until it makes an unexpected deviation from the ‘resolution’ aspect of the formula, which makes the experience potentially jarring for the viewer. Emelia’s story runs its course in an often predictable fashion, but much more thought could have been put into the culmination of the Fischer family’s denouement, or lack thereof (especially with Joa and Posy).
The Fischer family are endearing and hilarious. Koch is oddly sympathetic as Jonathan; the inept and desperate father, who is going through a midlife crisis. Whereas Ormond is terrifying as the deeply dissatisfied Joa, whose razor sharp wit pervades the film. Her frank and bitter insults and observations, which are primarily directed at Jonathan, make for many awkward, captivating and highly entertaining moments. Brown Findlay’s performance is almost flawless, suggesting that she has a bright future ahead of her. She portrays Emelia in such a natural and compelling way that this, along with her impeccable comedy timing, makes it is easy to forget this is her first role in a feature film. Despite her numerous charms, Emelia does become slightly irritating after a while, as the story frequently insists on showing how much of a wild and free spirit she is. However, when it does delve further into her past, we see why she acts the way she does and, subsequently, her character evolves during the latter stages of the narrative.
The setting on the South Coast of England delicately mirrors the emotions of the characters. It is beautiful but isolated which corresponds to, and represents, the different aspects of loneliness that reside in the characters themselves. The themes touched upon in the film are – quite refreshingly – subversive, especially when certain circumstances show the more academically gifted characters as ignorant and moronic. This is evident in Jonathan carrying on an extremely risky affair with his daughter’s friend, and during Emelia and Beth’s visit to Oxford University, when some of the students underestimate Emelia because of the way she looks, resulting in their own humiliation. Emelia’s binary opposite is Beth (wild and free versus sheltered and naive), which helps to keep their relationship thematically and emotionally engaging. Nonetheless, the climax of the film does disappoint to a certain extent, because it is frustratingly bereft of originality.
Although the conclusion of the film is logical, it is clichéd. There is nothing to surprise or excite because a host of films – produced long before ALBATROSS was conceived – have adopted it, and with more distinctive results. Furthermore, Emelia explains the metaphor of the albatross in relation to the characters’ lives which is rather patronizing. It is a conclusion that discerning viewers would surmise, and did not need to be explained in such clear and concise terms. It should be latent; a hidden gem reserved for those who have engaged with the story.
Although Rafn’s script is a little rough around the edges and stock at times, there is still definitely potential, and on the whole, ALBATROSS is an enjoyable affair. Nevertheless, its banal conclusion and unfinished story arcs render it less gratifying than it could and should have been.
ALBATROSS is released in UK cinemas on Friday 14th October
