This review was originally written in 2024.
Of filmmaker Nadia Conners’ previous work, UK audiences may only be familiar with The 11th Hour, a 2007 climate-change documentary narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, which Conners co-wrote and directed with her sister Leila.
However, since then, Conners’ credits have been a little scarce – just a short film and a single episode of television – making the debut of her star-studded narrative feature, which premiered at the South by Southwest Festival earlier this year, all the more intriguing.
What’s even more fascinating is that, with The Uninvited, Conners addresses and explores this résumé gap; specifically, how many modern women are required to sacrifice their sense of self to experience the joys of motherhood. What results is a poignant meditation on the interplay between identity, womanhood, and ageing.
Set over a single evening, The Uninvited follows Rose (Elizabeth Reaser) – once a talented theatre actress, now a stay-at-home mum and life coach in training – and her husband Sammy (Walton Goggins) as they host a party at their glitzy Hollywood home. While the soirée is ostensibly to celebrate Sammy’s star client, Gerald (Rufus Sewell), the burden of organising has fallen completely on Rose, who spends her days tirelessly tending to her family’s needs.
As the guests begin to arrive, so does Helen (Lois Smith) – a disoriented nonagenarian who claims to live at Rose and Sammy’s home – throwing the already dysfunctional couple (and hence, the evening) off-kilter.
As the film marches on, we learn that Rose was forced out of her acting career because of the misogynistic age standards and domestic expectations of motherhood. When Helen arrives, Rose is again thrust into the caregiver role, remaining absent from her own party while Sammy remains bullheadedly preoccupied with schmoozing his VIP guests.
In Helen, Rose finds a kindred spirit of sorts. Just as Rose’s former identity was plucked from her grasp by patriarchal standards, dementia is eroding Helen’s. Things are made even more complicated by the arrival of Rose’s film star ex-boyfriend, Lucien, played by a softly-spoken, shaggy-haired Pedro Pascal, who Sammy is trying to court as a client.
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Conners very cleverly orchestrates everything. While the party is in full swing outside, the women are mostly confined to the domestic interior, contending with identity issues and trying to hold everything together.
By contrast, the men move seamlessly between interior and exterior, each preoccupied with his own desires and pursuits – a self-absorption that’s intelligently illustrated by a grandiose, drugged-up conversation on a balcony between Sammy and Gerald, where neither seems to hear a word the other is saying. Even the spirit photographer, hired by Rose to catch the guests’ auras, resents being pulled away from his magazine to lend a hand before he’s “on the clock”.
The male characters’ complete unawareness of their own absurdity is equal parts entertaining and sobering. When Sammy says he wants to take up weaving because he has “this deep desire to do something with [his] hands”, you can’t help but think of that moment in Barbie when the Kens start singing by campfire light and explaining the ‘nuances’ of The Godfather.
The Uninvited was originally conceived as a play, and it shows. It’s very dialogue-heavy – much of which is razor-sharp, but some plot-serving conversational direction changes might leave you with a bit of whiplash.
The humour is understated, except for a few chuckle-worthy one-liners, the best of which are delivered by Smith with a veteran’s ease. However, for a film that largely excels at exploring the complexities of its issues with a lighthearted touch, the conclusion feels a little sentimental and convenient.
As for the cast, there’s not a dud among them. Pascal is ever-watchable if a smidge underutilised, and Smith thoughtfully avoids the stereotypical pitfalls of portraying an elderly person with dementia. Sewell is perfectly preposterous, and Goggins is flawless as the desperate panderer on the edge of a nervous breakdown. And at the centre of this luminous acting showcase, Elizabeth Reaser shines all the more for her balanced, understated, and moving turn as a woman confronting the costs and rewards of motherhood.
The Uninvited is available on demand now.
Images courtesy of Foton.Pictures
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