If you are watching a movie with the title Beast one of the things you are going to wonder about in the movie is, what is the Beast? Is it a person? Is Beast a metaphor? Is it an idea? By the end of the film viewers are left to decipher this puzzle for themselves. One could hope for an answer, but none is clear.
There are certainly Beasts in this movie. We meet several candidates early on.
The first scene shows us the protagonist, Moll, singing in a choir. Her mother is leading the choir and it is obvious the dynamic between the two is tense. Moll seems passive, submissive, resentful. Wonderful acting by Jesse Buckley reveals this range of emotions merely with subtle changes in her expression. Her mother, on the other hand, is controlling, even to point of being cruel. Her portrayal is less subtle, but no less skillfully accomplished.
Have we met our Beast in the mother? Quick judgment, which I am prone to make, would suggest that yes, we have found the creature. But wait. This is a complex film that offers no easy answers.
The next scene finds us at a party. Only after a few moments do we realize this is Moll’s birthday party. She seems to be incidental to the festivities, until she is toasted—by her mother. However, Moll is allowed the spotlight for the briefest moment. Her sister, with the active assistance of Moll’s mother, steals the attention quickly.
“We are having twins,” the sister announces. She has planned her grand surprise for the precise moment when Moll is being feted. Moll is crushed. Not only has she lost the spotlight, but her mother grabs it from her by ordering a case of champagne. Not for the birthday, but for the twins. To rub salt in the wound, the mother sends Moll for the champagne.
Moll’s hurt over this slight runs deep. She hasn’t got the emotional resources, nor the courage, to fight back, to resist the slight, so she goes into the kitchen, swigs down a couple shots of whiskey and breaks a glass, accidentally. She looks at the broken glass, bends down, picks up some shards from the floor and squeezes them tightly until blood drips from her clenched fist.
Do we have a Beast here? Whatever is going on with Moll, it’s apparent that she has profound psychological issues. We guess that this is not the first time she has hurt herself.
We have the major characters present now, except for one: Pascal. This mystery man enters Moll’s life that very night. After the incident with the glass, she rushes off and goes to a rave. She dances with a young man, walks home with him, and is assaulted-- or nearly assaulted by him. The assault is halted by the sudden appearance of Pascal, a complete stranger. Pascal warns the young man off with a shotgun, and when he is alone with Moll, observes, “You’re wounded”.
Pascal is talking about her hand, of course, but we think for a moment that he has spoken a truth: Moll is wounded. When Pascal says, “I can take care of that,” does he mean the hand, or the other, deeper wounds?
We have more candidates for Beast. We have the young man who would not take ‘No’ for an answer, and we have Pascal, who is wandering in the night with a shotgun.
The plot is set in motion now. Only two critical pieces are missing for us to solve the puzzle of the Beast. The most critical piece is that there is a serial killer on the loose. Four young woman have been killed and their bodies found discarded. The second critical piece is that Moll, as a child, stabbed a classmate with scissors and almost killed the child.
Here is a collection of clips from the film that represent the action, the tension and the mystery that run throughout the movie:
We know for sure that one of the candidates for Beast is the serial killer. And with the information about Moll’s history, she also becomes a strong candidate.These two acts of violence—the assault with a scissor and serial murders—are the driving energy behind the film.
Moll becomes romantically entangled with Pascal. Pascal is rough, dirt under his nails, unacceptable to Moll’s family. Although, we guess that anyone Moll brought home would be unacceptable unless he too was passive and submissive to the family’s control.
Does Moll love Pascal because he loves her, and he is exotic? Or does she love him because he offers freedom from all the constraints that have been placed upon her for years? He is the ultimate expression of rebellion.
As with most great love stories, it’s complicated. For one thing, Pascal is a suspect as the serial killer. Moll is questioned, and she lies for him. Still, lingering in her mind is doubt. Could he be the serial killer?
He was out wandering around that first night when he rescued her, the very night the last murder victim was discovered. That night he had pelts from rabbits he had poached. And, he had a criminal record.
Moll loves him. He can’t be the killer.
So there we are, hapless viewers in the palm of the filmmaker’s hand. Who is the Beast? Who is the murderer? What will Moll’s future be, this profoundly flawed young woman who lives under the tight control of her mother?
You won’t get that answer from me. I think I’ve unraveled the mystery to my own satisfaction, but after you watch the movie you may disagree.
One thing I’m sure about. You will not forget Moll for a very long time, and you will see in this character threads of people you have met or have known. Not perhaps characters as flawed or extreme as Moll, but certainly characters who struggle against their nature and against the circumstances in which life places them.
I only gave the movie an 85 because there are viewers who will be upset perhaps with the physical and emotional violence of the film.
I watched the film on Netflix. I do recommend it, unless you like to watch stuff that is not quite so heavy.
Director: Michael Pearce, Writer: Michael Pearce,
Stars:
Moll, Jessie Buckley
Her Mother, Geraldine James
Pascal, Oliver Maltman
Rating: 85/100
