The Wonder Review: Florence Pugh Dazzles In Haunting Mystery

The Wonder is a curious film. It relies shamelessly on the strength and calibre of its main lead, Florence Pugh and the beautiful shots and the Midas touch of Chilean director Sebastián Lelio of A Fantastic Woman fame. It sometimes loses its plot, that of the mystery of a young girl in 1862 Ireland miraculously surviving for four months without food, and instead gets enchanted by the visuals, and of course by Pugh herself. 

A rather unusual nursing assignment sends Florence Pugh's character, Lib Wright, an English nurse, to a small Irish village in 1862. The Catholic Church has ordered her to "watch" Anna O'Donnell (Kila Lord Cassidy), a young girl who claims to have gone four months without eating since the day she turned eleven. The Catholic Church wants Lib to observe Anna in order to assess whether or not she is telling the truth since they are searching for a genuine miracle. Both watchers are under strict orders to do nothing but watch. Lib will be assisted by a nun. They won't offer Anna food, but they'll give it to her if she asks. Lib is asked to essentially watch a child die of starvation.

Based on the novel of the same name by Emma Donoghue, it revolves around the real-life Victorian-era phenomenon of “fasting girls” who would starve themselves for long periods of time and miraculously survive. Mrs. Wright is a Crimean War veteran and seems deeply uninterested in dealing with the rampant xenophobia towards the English in Ireland. She is here to do her job, and frankly nothing else. She has to travel extensively to get to the tiny Irish village Anna calls home and acts like she is accustomed to the hate she receives from the town patriarchs, which includes Captain America: The First Avenger’s Toby Jones and Belfast’s Ciarán Hinds, who are also her employers.

Hicks encounters difficult people throughout her stay. No one is particularly welcoming and sees her presence there as merely a means to an end: finding out the secret behind the miracle that is Anna. Even the nun whom she alternates Anna-supervision shifts with has been instructed not to engage in any conversation with Hicks regarding the peculiar job. However Anna finds a companion in a Londoner journalist played by Tom Burke. Pugh’s charisma and the necessity of Burke’s character in the layout of the story mostly camouflages the lack of chemistry. 

Anyone who knows me well knows that I think Florence Pugh is the most talented actress of her generation, along with Zendaya and Jodie Comer. Few actresses at such a young age can say so much without saying anything at all, and that right there is the magic of Florence Pugh. Pugh is able to convey a myriad of emotions in a few seconds. Her eyes speak of timeless tales and backstory for the character. Usually, no exposition is required. When expository dialogue is required, Pugh delivers it in such a heartfelt and raw manner that leaves the audience spellbound. The camera seems to want to linger during those unspoken moments, as if it were enchanted by her too. Mrs. Wright who has lost everything and everyone dear to her. She has been hardened and, at the same time, softened by war. Pugh plays her with the same breathtaking level of complexity she brings to all her characters. It is genuinely rare to see actors shift so drastically and yet so subtly from acting in blockbusters like Black Widow to small indie dramas like The Wonder.

If you are wondering (pun intended) why I am talking about Pugh so much, quit it. This movie is a showcase for her and her only. It is why there aren’t any more actors of the same calibre. However, one actress does steal the show every so often: Kila Lord Cassidy, as the ever-fasting Anne. She seems quite one-dimensional at the beginning of the movie. But as the story wears on, Cassidy pulls at the curtains, revealing another layer like a blooming flower in motion. Anne is also quite creepy at moments and so is the movie as a whole. She is mysterious and at the same time, ubiquitous in her influence over the movie’s tone. She is able to stand up and deliver while sharing the screen with Pugh. Cassidy truly shines in the climax with her unnerving and haunting performance. She is one to watch.

Sebastián Lelio delivers a very quaint style of direction. It feels like a nature documentary at the beginning of every scene, before the first dialogue is delivered. Lelio, like his audience, is terribly in love with the Irish highlands where the film was shot. Matthew Herbert’s quiet and delicate score serves as a perfect accompaniment and adds to the intrigue, even though the twist can be seen coming a mile away. 

The biggest problem is the twist. It's not done very well, and the suspense is all for nothing because you already know the answer to the mystery. The movie lags incredibly in places and there's barely any payoff for making the audience wait. Lelio, in certain areas, feels distracted. The writing throughout the first act is slightly choppy as well.

Finally, an anchoring performance by Pugh, a laudable assist from Cassidy and the pure talent of Lelio makes this film almost a visual art piece. Truthfully, if it weren’t for the wondrous magic of Florence Pugh, this wouldn’t be half as good as it was, Lelio or no Lelio. It might not be for this movie, but she needs an Oscar, stat.