EARWIG (2021)

Earwig (2021)
Directed by: Lucile Hadzihalilovic
Written by: Brian Catling, Geoff Cox, Lucile Hadzihalilovic
Starring: Alex Lawther, Paul Hilton, Peter Van den Begin, Romane Hemelaers, Romola Garai

EARWIG (2021)
Directed by Lucile Hadzihalilovic
Released on Blu-Ray by Anti-Worlds

Albert Scellinc (Paul Hilton) is caretaker to a young girl named Mia (Romane Hemelaers). Living in a dark, sparse apartment, lit only by lamps, the duo have only each other for company. Despite this, Mia is forced to entertain herself with toys fashioned from newspaper. Their only real interaction with each other is at meal times and when Mia is fitted with frozen teeth, moulded using her own saliva, by her guardian Albert. Her dental requirements means this process is repeated frequently, seemingly under the orders of an outside party. When Albert gets a phone girl to prepare the girl for life outside, their life begins to spiral.

Directed by Lucile Hadzihalilovic (Innocence, Evolution) and adapted from Brian Catling’s book of the same name, EARWIG is a fantasy period drama that focuses on the relationship between a 50 year old man and a 10 year old girl and how their complex arrangement sees history seemingly repeat itself.

Having read the booklet that comes with Anti-Worlds limited edition release of EARWIG, it seems that the film strays from its source material in many ways. In the book, Aalbert has a heightened sense of hearing, but this isn’t explained in the movie, though there are many instances where we see glasses being played by wetting the rim. From what I can gather, the movie adaptation is a more abstract approach to the story with author Catling having commented that it serves more of an inspiration to the book despite the book being the predecessor, and inspired him to write a sequel albeit inspired by the movie’s take on the events. In that way, it appears the movie’s vagueness is more a sense of style and vibe rather than structural or plot-driven substance.

As a movie, EARWIG is incredibly drawn out and slow, with not much happening to warrant its 114 minute running time. It takes over twenty minutes for any dialogue to be spoken and even then it’s often in short supply. I’ve never read the story it’s based on, but there’s not much in the movie to sink your teeth into (pun not intended).

Visually it’s an interesting film to watch unfold with an emphasis on low light cinematography giving a grungy, dank and depressing feel, but after a while even that gets monotonous. The closeups of the glasses, which Albert likes to touch, look at and play with, and the dental equipment, which young Mia is forced to wear in her mouth as Albert prepares new moulds, are often as exciting as the film gets. It repeats its imagery often, so you get the feeling that this routine the pair share has been going on for a long time. Watching Albert’s frustration as things seem to slip from his control gives a deeper insight into his mindset. His routine is changing, the little girl he looks after is growing up, and soon he’s going to be surplus to requirements. An evening’s drink at the local pub turns sour after a conversation with a stranger stirs up his past, and things go downhill from there.

Whilst the majority of the movie is about Albert and Mia, there’s other minor characters that play their part too, including a woman named Celeste (Romola Garai) who is drawn into their orbit, one way or another. With the film produced in such an art house style, it’s hard to pin down what is going on at times, and the time frame of events can often be disturbed as we encounter moments that seemingly occur before the viewer expected.

The final scenes of EARWIG are meant to surprise but I think the shock is more for the character of Albert than the viewer. Things do take a surreal turn though at the end which likely have an explanation though I couldn’t tell you what it means. Like most aspects of the movie, it feels like it’s up for interpretation rather than providing a cohesive storyline viewers can understand or get involved in.

EARWIG is a bit too abstract for my tastes and lacks a real story that’s worth sitting through. The movie feels overlong and would likely have benefitted from being cut down into a neater package which still would have worked to the same effect. The dialogue in the movie also leaves a lot to be desired and the introduction of other characters raise more questions than it answers.

Rating: