‘A Banquet’ review: Dir Ruth Paxton [Fantastic Fest]

Opening with the traumatic and bloody death of her husband, A Banquet tells the story of a mother, Holly (Sienna Guillory), and her teenage daughters Betsey (Jessica Alexander) and Isabelle (Ruby Stokes).  The story then picks up a few months after the demise of Holly’s husband and the girl’s father; appearances initially seem as though normality has returned to the household, but it quickly becomes apparent that all isn’t as it seems. Betsey is on the verge of University, but has been cast adrift and is struggling to work out who she is and what she wants. Then one day she wakes up with no desire to eat. As the days turn to weeks, Holly desperately tries to get Betsey help, but when Betsey proclaims herself the vessel for a higher power, Holly finds her faith and resolve tested.  

A film that explores identity, faith, and the bonds of motherhood, A Banquet has a lot for the audience to digest. It is deliberately paced; Paxton, like Betsey with Holly, wants our patience, slowly drip-feeding tiny morsels of information, but mostly concentrates on creating an unsettling atmosphere. Despite its non-genre trappings, A Banquet is layered in dread and despair. Playing more to the psychological than the physical, Paxton’s drama is captivating and presents plenty of darkness in its analysis of how far a mother will go to keep her child alive. Whilst the film might not be a horror in the traditional sense, Paxton does manage to sneak in a startlingly realised nightmare sequence that is more intense than many straight-horror films on the market. This sequence’s appearance, from nowhere, catches the viewer entirely off-guard. The spike in adrenaline spices things up and keeps the audience on their toes. 

With a more cerebral and interpretive narrative to tell, the power of A Banquet stems from its visuals, score, and performances. Each component secures your attention and helps progress the story without the need of lots of exposition and words. Visually, the setting of A Banquet is almost completely dark. The screen is littered with dark greys and blacks, the dull lighting in the house casting long shadows over everything, working as a visual manifestation of the grief that still shrouds the home’s occupants. In contrast to the dim backdrop, Holly, Betsey, and Isabelle are sheathed in neutral tones, making them stand out from their surroundings. It is through the food that Holly creates that colour is introduced into the piece. The bright greens and rich reds really pop, ensuring that the viewer focuses in on the food, mirroring Holly’s own fixation. 

Having only three main characters to play with, Paxton has worked hard at getting the casting exactly right. Holly, Betsey, and Isabelle are all individually complex characters with their own story to tell and Paxton allows each to have their moment without taking away from the overarching story. In many ways, A Banquet is a story that could be told from the perspective of any of these characters, each resulting in a slightly different film. Paxton spends time with each woman, leaving it to the viewer to decide for themselves who they want to access the narrative through. This tact means that Guillory, Alexander and Stokes all have to give lead-worthy performances, which thanking each does brilliantly. Alexander is stunning as Betsey, her character goes from fun-loving teenager to recluse in a short space of time. The young actor also has a lot of physicality to portray as Betsey suffers from fugue states and seizures, with Alexander demonstrating a talent for this style of acting. Guillory’s performance is more subdued and desperate; the ferocity of Holly’s maternal instinct is palpable. Stokes, the youngest of the three leads, gives a quiet and heartbreaking turn as the child that feels forgotten about. The trio each approach their characters from different directions, but all combine on screen to create the perfect dramatic balance. 

Last year The Swerve, by Dean Kapsalis, presented a chilling analysis of the breakdown of the mind of a wife and mother. Now comes Ruth Paxton’s A Banquet, a film completely unconnected to Kapsalis’ work, but one that somehow shares a similar tone. Each movie tackles the dissolution of minds in an emotional and thoughtful way, pushing the horror and anxiety of these situations to the forefront in a realistic and heartbreaking way. A Banquet is tough to watch in places, the issues around Betsey’s inability to eat might be especially hard for those whose lives have been impacted by eating disorders, but it’s also compulsively addictive and hard to look away from. Bold storytelling, bleak visuals, and beautifully considered performances make A Banquet a mouthwatering bite of psychological cinema.  

A Banquet was reviewed at Fantastic Fest 2021.