Magpie, directed by Sam Yates and released in 2022, stars Daisy Ridley as Anette and Shazad Latif as her husband Ben. They seem to have it all – a beautiful home in the English countryside, two daughters including one (played by Hiba Ahmed) who has landed a role in a major film production.
However, things are not as idyllic as they appear. Anette finds herself isolated at home with a newborn, while Ben’s attention starts to wander when he gets involved with the film shoot. He sets his sights on the movie’s leading actress Alicia, portrayed by Matilda Lutz. As Ben’s indifference towards his family grows, cracks emerge in Anette’s careful facade.
Domestic thrillers often explore the dark undercurrent that can exist below the surface of seemingly normal family lives. Magpie examines the strain of an unhappy marriage through psychological manipulation and betrayal. Director Yates builds an unsettling atmosphere as tensions mount in the couple’s sprawling but lonely home. While the plot follows familiar beats, strong performances – especially from Ridley in the central role of Anette – keep viewers guessing as to how this twisted tale will unfold.
Magpie’s Complex Tangles
We meet Annette, a caring mother devoted to raising her young daughter Matilda. Annette’s love for her family is apparent, though stresses have emerged in her relationship with husband Ben. As an author, Ben enjoys the quiet countryside where they live, but his writing has hit a block.
Matilda lands the lead role in a new period drama filming nearby. Excited for her daughter yet wary of increased time away, Annette sends them off. On set, Ben becomes enthralled by the film’s star Alicia, a volatile actress rebuilding her image after a scandal. Ben basks in Alicia’s attention, finding inspiration in her vivacious spirit.
While Ben immerses himself in Alicia’s world, Annette holds down the home front. With a newborn needing care and Ben frequently absent, loneliness takes its toll. Annette notices changes in Ben, his once loving nature replaced by indifference. Distance grows between the couple as Ben courts danger through an indiscreet affair.
Struggling under pressure, Annette acts out in uncontrolled ways. Glimpses of her fractured psyche appear through fractured mirrors and cries in the night. As Ben deepens his deceit, Annette becomes keenly aware of realities she’d rather not face. Her precarious grip on stability slips, unleashing a tide of chaotic urges.
When uncomfortable truths are laid bare, the story takes its most shocking twist. Loyalties are tested and masks stripped away, with destructive passions bared in the aftermath. Through it all, one woman’s troubled journey of fracturing and renewal comes to a shattering climax.
Tension on Display
Daisy Ridley immerses herself in the role of Annette, capturing the simmering unrest just below the surface of her character. Living with an inattentive husband has taken its toll, yet she masks her frustration with polite smiles. Ridley conveys so much through subtle expressions and muted reactions, allowing the cracks in Annette’s calm facade to seem fragile yet inevitable. It is testament to her skill that a simple glance or nervous gesture hints at depths of feeling left unsaid.
Latif masterfully plays the part of Annette’s neglectful spouse, inviting the audience’s scorn. Ben clearly values his wants above his family’s needs, dismissing his wife’s concerns while pursuing his own desires. Latif depicts Ben as self-absorbed yet insecure, desperation showing through his bravado. This dynamic ensures the viewer eagerly awaits Ben receiving his comeuppance.
Lutz captures the allure and mystery surrounding her character, Alicia. As the object of Ben’s fixation, she represents the grass seeming greener elsewhere. Yet Alicia also hints at vulnerabilities, and her motivations remain obscured even as she stokes Ben’s infatuation. Both actresses skillfully portray complex women navigating societal judgements.
Together, this trio creates a warring domestic atmosphere through subtle conflicts left unsaid. Their nuanced performances bring an otherwise common narrative to life, suggesting deeper truths below predictable plot points. In this way, Magpie becomes a showcase for these talented stars’ abilities to immerse viewers in emotional turmoil simmering just out of sight.
Focusing the Lens on Trauma
Sam Yates creates an atmosphere of unease from the film’s first scene. Shot through frames and reflections, we see only fragments of Anette’s turmoil. This mirrors her inner experience, as the isolation has left her fragmented.
Yates controls what we see through lighting and camera placements, revealing cracks in Anette’s world. Scenes inside the modern home feel claustrophobic, voices echoing off glass. Natural light barely penetrates, as if the house traps its inhabitants in darkness.
In contrast, outdoor scenes showcase the landscape’s wide expanses and winding roads leading nowhere. These lonely exteriors emphasize Anette’s solitude and lack of community. Though escaping the crowded city for quiet, she now has only silence for company.
Through these directorial choices, Yates draws us into Anette’s fractured psyche. We uncomfortably witness her pain without fully understanding its nature. Like glimpsing one’s reflection in shattered glass, the pieces don’t quite align. In cultivating this unease, Yates creates empathy for a woman in crisis while leaving her humanity intact.
We see trauma’s effects without passing judgment. Anette’s mounting distress feels realistic, emerging from small, mundane moments rather than melodrama. A bird’s corpse on grass, a baby’s cry echoing tinnily – nature and technology conspire to intensify her isolation. Yates handles these disturbing scenes with subtlety, focusing our gaze on Anette’s inner world.
By framing domestic unease as an unsolvable mystery, Yates pushes us to question social pressures and their costs. Anette’s turmoil emerges from society’s shadows rather than from any individual’s actions. Her breakdown reflects broader pathologies demanding illumination, not condemnation. In showcasing one woman’s quiet suffering, Magpie shines a light on trauma’s complex roots and resilient forms.
Beneath the Surface
Ben seems like a typical artist—passionate yet selfish, in pursuit of meaning yet unconcerned for others’ emotions. But his behavior goes further, chipping away at Annette’s sense of self. Living isolated together, she’s lost touch with who she is beyond wife and mother. Though accomplished herself once, now all that’s asked of her is caretaking.
Annette knows something is off in their relationship. Little comments leave her questioning her reality, like that bird crashing into the window. Was it really an accident? She begins going to great lengths to uncover truths, yet keeping her discoveries hidden. On the surface Annette maintains control, but beneath tensions escalate.
When Matilda lands her role, Ben finds escape through Alicia’s allure. Annette sees through platitudes about “finding inspiration,” recognizing this new spark endangers their family. Still, if she expresses doubts too strongly, who will believe her sanity? In this isolated home, power dynamics twist in troubling ways.
Beneath the calm exterior, turbulent cross undercurrents surge. Annette realizes she must reclaim her sense of self—and control of her future. But will darkness she’s pushed deep inside finally overflow? As challenges mount, extremes seem the only way forward. What once existed beneath the surface may soon be brought violently into the light.
Darkening Clouds
Isobel Waller-Bridge’s foreboding score immerses the viewer in Magpie’s disturbing world from the start. Strings writhe with unease as a brooding piano taps out an ominous undercurrent. Together they twist normally cheerful melodies into something perilous, reflecting Annette’s mounting distress. The music perfectly captures her suffocating situation as tensions rise in her home.
Dan Morgan’s sound design matches this unsettling tone, finding discord where harmony should lie. Everyday noises take on new menace in his expert hands. Baby cries pierce the quiet with raw anxiety while muted conversations carry portentous whispers. Nature itself seems fraying as an ill-fated bird throws the household into further chaos.
Meanwhile Laura Bellingham’s camera traps the characters within a prison of their own making. Claustrophobic interiors deny escape through towering walls of glass, showing the true transparency of those within. No private moment remains hidden from the lens, mirroring Annette’s growing perception that nothing in her life remains truly untouched by prying eyes.
Together these technical aspects weave an atmosphere thick with impending dread. They draw us deep into Annette’s darkening mindset and heighten every twist revealed upon the screen.
Daisy Ridley Triumphs in Tense Thriller “Magpie”
Daisy Ridley captivates as the bruised yet defiant Annette in Magpie. Playing a neglected wife driven to the brink, Ridley imbues her with searing inner life through piercing eyes and rigid composure. As pressures within her marriage intensify, Ridley crafts a visceral sense of a woman experiencing a slow-burn breakdown.
Shazad Latif is equally compelling as the charming yet callous Ben. Believing his own hype, Ben mistreats his family while chasing fleeting adoration. Latif makes us shudder at Ben’s smirks and swoons, but also grasp his flimsy justifications. These dazzling lead performances power the film.
Director Sam Yates ratchets tension to unbearable levels in the climactic moments. Using tight close-ups and precise cutting, he translates Annette’s turmoil into a kinetic thriller. Minor characters also thrill, like Matilda Lutz’s enigmatic actress proving more than meets the eye.
For devotees of twisty relationship dramas such as Gone Girl and Kill Eve, Magpie delivers an intoxicating ride exploring betrayal and consequences. While predictable at points, its stirring finale and Ridley’s searing work elevate this above routine revenge fare.
Most exciting is seeing Ridley take the reins as producer on her compelling vision. Magpie points to a star cultivating her own avenue for complex female roles that Hollywood too often denies others. Her triumph suggests more anticipation for what comes next from this dynamic performer.
The Review
Magpie
Despite some uneven pacing, Magpie succeeds as a tense character study thanks to compelling lead performances that immerse us in a marriage gone sour. Daisy Ridley commands the screen as the quietly unravelling Annette in a star-making turn. Magpie keeps viewers on edge until its powerful conclusion, making for an entertaining domestic thriller that proves greater than the sum of its predictable parts.
PROS
- Compelling central performances from Daisy Ridley and Shazad Latif
- Captivating portrait of a deteriorating marriage
- Ratchets tension throughout and features an impactful climax
- An intriguing directorial debut from Sam Yates
- Showcases Ridley's ambition as a producer of female-led stories
CONS
- Story progresses through some predictable beats
- Lacks depth and complexity at times in its characters
- Uneven pacing in the middle sections
- Leans toward style over substance on occasion
