That being said, a few crucial points must be made: Belo is always careful not to demonize the men, and the film never slips into a full-fledged feminist parable. Everyone is given motivations, although some of those may be borderline indefensible (I’m far from a saint, but I could never just ditch my wife and child, no matter the reasoning). Water also plays a complicated role in the film, a symbol of both life and hope but also a source of angst, danger, and suffocation.
Jodie Comer, yet again, portrays immense versatility, depth, grace, and subtlety. She’s in almost every frame of the film, and she’s absolutely mesmerizing. Waterston gives her best performance so far, charming and funny and harboring an unsaid sadness, rendering a scene between her and Mother at a beach especially heartbreaking. I found Cumberbatch’s presence a little distracting – he appears as a token “good man” for about 5 minutes of screen time – but Strong, Fry, and the rest of the cast absolutely shine.
“…Comer, yet again, portrays immense versatility, depth, grace, and subtlety.”
A couple of words about film budgets. As a random recent example, the Jennifer Lawrence vehicle No Hard Feelings reportedly cost $45M to make (disregarding the marketing costs, etc). You’ll surely wonder where all that money went (answer: JLaw’s salary – which she, of course, deserves, being the First Female Action Hero Lead and all). And here we have The End We Start From, made for $10M (half of JLaw’s salary), led and made by mostly women – and it looks stunning, with forlorn vistas of London half-submerged in water, stampeding crowds of mad folks craving food, and a house-flooding sequence that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Just sayin’.
If you liked Children of Men, chances are you will enjoy this film. It has the same blend of despondency and lyricism, hope and despair, beauty and violence. Like an ouroboros, The End We Start From ends where it starts, for all our lives are circular – ultimately, after all, we all end up where we start.
The End We Start From screened at the 2023 AFI Fest.
"…blend of despondency and lyricism, hope and despair, beauty and violence..."
