Shadows on the Wall | The Trouble With Jessica

The Trouble With Jessica

dir Matt Winn
prd Sarah Sulick
scr James Handel, Matt Winn
with Shirley Henderson, Alan Tudyk, Rufus Sewell, Olivia Williams, Indira Varma, Anne Reid, Sylvester Groth, Amber Rose Revah, Kwaku Mills, David Schaal, Jonathan Livingstone, Emily McCormick
release UK 5.Apr.24
23/UK 1h29

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Mixing slapstick with dark drama, this offbeat British film is tricky to connect with on a satisfying level. But that seems to be intentional, as director Matt Winn delights in putting his characters through a moral and legal wringer. The strong cast holds the interest, even as each person on-screen is rather unlikeable, making dodgy decisions amid nasty revelations. And the uneven approach makes it difficult to believe.

As their financial situation becomes desperate, wealthy London couple Sarah and Tom (Henderson and Tudyk) try to maintain appearances by inviting university pals Beth and Richard (Williams and Sewell) over for dinner. But they bring along a mutual friend, the flirty author Jessica (Varma). This makes the meal very tense, and that's before Jessica excuses herself to commit suicide in the garden. Worried that police attention will scupper the sale of their house, Sarah suggests moving Jessica home to her flat. Much outrage ensues, but it seems the only reasonable option. Then the doorbell rings.

Actually, it improbably rings many times over the course of this farcical evening, as they are visited by a neighbour (Reid) and a couple of curious cops (Schaal and Livingstone), plus the estate agent (Mills) and prospective buyers (Groth and Revah). Cue various acts of deception, wacky activity involving a dead body and lots of interpersonal chaos. Oddly, the black comedy never quite emerges: it remains a serious drama punctuated with silly antics. Both are intriguing, but they don't quite gel.

Performances are sharp, heightened appropriately to add to the charged atmosphere. These are longterm friends whose connection is strained to the breaking point by both mutual transgression and new discoveries. Each of the four central actors have strong moments all their own, with Henderson holding the film's epicentre as the unsteady Sarah. Williams has a wonderfully steely edge, while both Tudyk and Sewell provide some surprising textures as men cracking under pressure.

Because it's far too easy to answer the plot's focal moral question, there's never a hint of provocation in the script. So we can safely sit back and merely observe without being ruffled. But the film holds the interest because the characters are all so slippery, secretive and ungrounded, each in their own way. And as they begin to confront issues of guilt and grief, the narrative finds some surprising emotional resonance.

themes, language, violence, sexuality 3.Aug.23

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