‘The prodigy’: Reason in the face of obscurantism

In his journey between international productions and films shot in English, the Chilean Sebastián Lelio takes on the challenge of making period films. The director travels to Ireland in the mid-19th century to direct ‘The Prodigy’. Adaptation of the novel of the same name by Emma Donoghue, who also participates in the screenplay, after its passage in selected cinemas and after being in the Official Section of the 70th San Sebastian Film Festival and obtaining 12 BIFA Award nominations, is available in streaming, distributed by Netflix.

Perhaps aware that it was his first costume production, Lelio begins the film on a film set, with a narrator, Niamh Algar, introducing the audience to the story., moving from the set to a strong contrast gradually transitioning to the scenography, as if it were a story. The way the director introduces the audience to the story is curious, as he seems to be baring the seams of that fascinating trompe l’oeil that is cinema.

But This allows Lelio to build momentum in a story that curates every element of the period, especially its excellent cinematography by Ari Wegner, Oscar nominee for ‘The Power of the Dog’ and which coincided with Florence Pugh in “Lady Macbeth”; as well as her meticulous costumes, designed by Odile Dicks-Mireaux; or production design and art direction, with Grant Montgomery, Til Frohlich and Margot Cullen at the helm. Mention also for its wonderful soundtrack, composed by Matthew Herbertwhich gives an epic meaning to what ends up becoming a woman’s struggle for reason to prevail over fanaticism.

Florence Pugh is the soul of the film. Furthermore, her performance, as nurse Elizabeth Wright, reminds us that, like Keira Knightley, Lily James (before her radical change in ‘Pam & Tommy’) or Adriana Ugarte, she has a special magnetism for period roles . it’s a more complex and challenging role than the aforementioned ‘Lady Macbeth’, although he also excelled in ‘Little Women’. In this case, the interpreter has a fascinating ability to convey an initial frustration and bitterness that will turn into hope and desire to live as the plot unfolds.

A fundamental factor here plays his encounter with the holy girl, Anna, played by Kíla Lord Cassidy. Both have magnificent chemistry, showing the clash of two ways of understanding life and how external factors influence discord. Only moments of intimacy and confessions give the possibility of dialogue, which ends up becoming essential when the life of the little girl starts to be in danger after being considered almost a miracle by the people, who wait for the girl to die to transform her home into a place of pilgrimage in the purest style of Lourdes or Fatima.

Lelio exposes the corrosive power of religious fanaticism in this elegant period drama

Lelio exposes the dangers of religious fanaticism and makes Pugh the heroine of the film, representing science and reason in the face of obscurantism. The director is concerned with being sensitive to religion, differentiating it from fanaticism, portraying it with the nurse nun who rotates with Pugh’s character when it comes to caring for the supposedly holy girl. What Lelio also masterfully reveals is how religious extremism seeks an external voice to lend credibility to its beliefs; even if said third person shows the error of him.

Lelio, on the other hand, who signs the screenplay of this film adaptation together with Emma Donoghue and Alice Birch, once again shows his ability to configure female leads with exceptional inner strengthWell, this courageous nurse, alone in the face of adversity, could very well be measured by the whirlwind that was Paulina García in “Gloria” or the integrity and dignity that Daniela Vega had in “A Fantastic Woman”. From his journey in international cinema, it is the best work of the Chilean since ‘Disobedience’.

‘The prodigy’ proves that Lelio knows how to defend himself in period cinema. A story that has the soul of a gothic fairy tale, with which the director shows how beliefs can be capable of destroying what they try to protect. A film that also looks to the present with regard to the struggle between reason and nonsense, as well as the defense of women themselves against the ideas that try to oppress them. Remarkable exercise by the Chilean director.

Note: 7

The best: Its careful technical aspect and the interpretation of Florence Pugh.

Worse: Although it is redirected in its final part, something is lost in between.