Beast: A Chilling Psychological Thriller
A surprisingly powerful and multi-layered thriller in the vein of the best British detective stories and Gillian Flynn’s psychological dramas, exploring the darker aspects of human passion.
Moll, a striking redhead raised in a strict family, feels trapped on the small island where she has spent her entire life. Her sense of alienation is compounded by the fact that those around her consider her strange, even dangerous, and her own mother stifles her every breath. Meeting Pascal, a straightforward and independent outsider, changes Moll. She feels empowered to finally be herself, break free from her chains, and perhaps even leave the hated island in the middle of the sea forever. However, the happiness of the two lovers is threatened by a series of murders of young women on the island, and Pascal becomes a suspect. Unwilling to believe that she is dating a monster, Moll tries to defend her lover to the investigators, but over time she begins to feel something terrible and evil brewing within herself…
An island in the ocean, isolated from the mainland, the pressures of civilization, and endless streams of people, is the perfect place to stage a good drama or thriller. That is why novels and films like “And Then There Were None,” “Lord of the Flies,” or “The Island of Doctor Moreau” are so popular. The roughness of the land on the smooth water surface, like a lens, magnifies the significance of emotions and feelings, the depth and complexity of characters, and the pressure of circumstances. A good psychological thriller set on a small piece of land, where the number of characters is limited and help is nowhere to be found, is always welcome. But if it is not just a simple detective story or horror film, but a multi-layered and pleasantly unpredictable story, then enjoyment is guaranteed.
Director and screenwriter Michael Pearce based the story of the murdered girls on the island on a real chain of kidnappings and deaths of children and adolescents that occurred on the island of Jersey near France in the 1960s and 1970s.
“Beast” is precisely such a complex psychological thriller, which hides several parallel lines behind the story of a serial killer, providing food for discussion that is no less turbulent than the personality of the main villain. There is a fantastically powerful layer of loneliness of a person who is not accepted even by their own family, there is a fantastically beautiful love that seems to be admired by nature itself, there is the heavy tread of societal condemnation, sometimes not too justified, but crushing the victim like a steamroller, there is even an attempt to understand the nature of evil, albeit somewhat superficial and infantile. Michael Pearce has created a film worthy of multiple viewings.
Since the island of Jersey is now one of the tourist centers of Europe, filming on it turned out to be too expensive, so the frame includes authentic landscapes of Jersey, but all interior shots and shots on the streets of the town took place in the British county of Surrey.
A Captivating Plot
The film’s main storyline, in which the fates of the downtrodden Moll and the reckless Pascal are intertwined, is also quite gripping. Pearce skillfully manipulates the viewer, sometimes “framing” the characters for suspicion, sometimes carefully protecting them from any accusations. Everyone around is exchanging glances, the hooligan and nihilist are looked at reproachfully and spoken about through clenched teeth, but it seems to us that the person does not deserve this until their guilt is proven. And it is still not possible to accuse Pascal of serial murders, moreover, something wild, animalistic, deadly dangerous appears even in Moll herself. At a certain stage of the story, you stop excluding the girl from the number of possible suspects.
Jessie Buckley’s Stellar Performance
Jessie Buckley’s Moll, by the way, is the reason why “Beast” is worth watching, even if you are not into psychological thrillers or family dramas in which a child breaks out of their parents’ home. Moll is that island, forgotten by fate, but constantly stormed by waves and winds. In the isolation, in the shell, in the carapace of this heroine, something so powerful is growing that the explosion can shatter the entire rock on which the other characters nest. Moll is a unique heroine, strong and passionate, independent but suppressed, devoted but fair. Buckley’s performance exceeds all expectations, thanks to the actress’s special energy, the film is filled with emotions, uniquely plays with halftones, and draws you into the depths of a scary fairy tale about a beauty who meets either a Prince Charming or a Gray Wolf in the night forest.
It is also worth noting the magnificent Geraldine James, who plays Moll’s mother. At times, this actress reaches some transcendental level of emotions, which makes her resemble both Meryl Streep and Charlotte Rampling and play at about the level of these stars. Unfortunately, in the finale, the line of the mother, and the family in general, somewhat escapes from the authors, but only because all the space of the frame is taken by Jessie Buckley, deafeningly powerful, like Moll’s screams at her neighbors, and bottomlessly deep, like the sadness in the eyes of a girl left unattended on her birthday.
“Beast” is a system of equations with many unknowns, the solution of which is not found in the most obvious way and the answer to which may disappoint some viewers. But at the same time, this film is extraordinarily charged and cocked, like a revolver hammer - one wrong move, and it will blow your mind. Coupled with Nordic coldness, brilliant sound design, and fantastic acting performances, the story of a wolf in sheep’s clothing deserves the title of one of the best genre films of the year.