THE NEST : Tuesday 9th February 2021.

'THE NEST' which I saw earlier this week is an MA15+ Rated psychological thriller offering Directed, Written and Co-Produced by the Canadian Sean Durkin, in only his second film making outing following the acclaimed 'Martha Marcy May Marlene' in 2011. This film saw its World Premier screening at the Sundance Film Festival back in January 2020, went on release in the US in mid-September, has garnered generally favourable Reviews, has so far grossed US$902K and has picked up four award wins and another twelve nominations from around the awards and festival circuit.

Here Englishman Rory O'Hara (Jude Law), an ambitious entrepreneur and commodities broker, persuades his American wife, Allison (Carrie Coon), and their children Benjamin (Charlie Shotwell) and Samantha (Oona Roche) to leave the comforts of suburban America and return to his native England during the 1980's. Rory believes that his time in the US is up, and new opportunities are becoming increasingly scarce and that London is the up and coming place to be in his particular line of business. As the film opens up we see Rory at the window of his home in the New York suburbs on the phone to his former boss and mentor in England, Arthur Davis. Rory has lived in America for the last ten or so years. 

Despite being fairly reluctant at first, Allison soon gives way and agrees to the move with some coercion from her mother (Wendy Crewson), who thinks it will be a good move for the family. And so Rory goes on ahead leaving Allison to pack up the family and follow on afterwards. In the meantime Rory has rented a huge old 17th Century mansion with extensive acreage in rural Surrey, and paid a years rent up front. Soon after arriving, Rory buys a horse for Allison (she used to train horse riding back in the US and had her own stables) named Richmond so that she can get back in the saddle and begin her horse riding lessons again. He also commissions the building of a stables on the property, which he has made it clear that he intends to buy after the initial one year period is up. 

Meanwhile, Rory takes Allison to lavish parties hosted by Arthur Davis (Michael Culkin), where he can show off his American trophy wife and schmooze with his colleagues. Several weeks pass by and Allison notices that the builders are no longer working on the construction of her stables. She calls the builder and asking why, only to be told that Rory's initial cheque payment bounced and he said he would post another and he never did, so the builders downed tools and refuse to do any more work. 

Allison looks into their bank account details to discover that there is only six hundred pounds therein. Confronting Rory over their money situation, he responds saying that he is expecting a big pay day to come in within the next couple of weeks and that this will see an end to their monetary woes. The pair get into an explosive argument over their financial situation and Rory's reckless behaviour masquerading as rich and successful when in fact he's the opposite. 

At the office, Rory announces to Arthur that he may wish to consider selling his company and enjoy the retirement he has worked toward his entire life. Rory behind the scenes has been in discussion with a larger American firm looking for a London office, and the deal could be very lucrative for them all. This is the big pay day that Rory eluded to previously to Allison, but after some consideration, Arthur backs out of the deal believing that the deal does not represent a good fit. Rory explodes at Arthur with this news, but is quickly put back in his box by the older statesman who tells him to go and do what he's good at - trading the stock market. Back at the house meanwhile, Richmond is being put through her paces by Allison when the horse collapses in pain. Allison is forced to go to a neighbouring farmer, who puts the horse down.

In order to provide for some basic income to support the family home and pay the basic bills, Allison starts working for the farmer who put the horse down. Sam makes some questionable friends from the local area and Ben gets into a fight at school with some bullies. Rory and one of his long standing colleagues Steve (Adeel Akhtar) organise a potentially very lucrative deal with a Norwegian fish-farming outfit and host their clients with their respective partners at an upmarket restaurant in the city. Over dinner Allison openly derides her husband in front of the other guests, and then storms out, goes to a nightclub and drinks and dances the night away, alone. Rory is embarrassed and tries to downplay Allison's outburst in front of the clients. Outside the restaurant when the clients have left Rory says that as he's missed the last train home he and Steve should hit the town. Steve refuses saying that the clients only want to deal with him and have cut Rory out. Rory catches a cab back to Surrey and confesses his many indiscretions to the cab driver, claiming his job is 'pretending to be rich'. With Rory's confessions making it clear that he is both broke and a liar, the driver surmises that he will be unable to pay for the long fare home and orders him out of the cab leaving him in the middle of nowhere, miles from his home. 

In the meantime, Sam has organised an impromptu party at the family home while Mum and Dad are in the city. The house is overrun with drugged up and drunken teenagers who over the course of the evening wreck the place. As the party increasingly gets more and more out of control, Ben was outside when he noticed the mound of earth under which Richmond had been hastily buried had risen up exposing the carcass of the dead horse, presumably from the build of gas and due to an improper burial in the first place. 

The next morning Allison wakes up behind the steering wheel of her parked car in some country lane. She drives home to find the place trashed and offensive graffiti sprayed on the walls inside the house. She calls out for Sam and Ben. Ben responds first having taken refuge in a secret room. He takes her to the grave of Richmond showing her the horse's risen body which is now almost totally exposed. She breaks down clawing at the soil as Sam joins them. Sam and Ben both turn away walking back to the house leaving Allison to grieve further for the dead animal. Sam and Ben agree to rustle up breakfast for them all. Rory walks in and finds his family seated at the table eating their breakfast. He starts proposing another relocation, and says that Arthur's firm is not for him and he has a plan to set up his own brokerage business and consultancy using his extensive network, but Allison simply tells him to 'stop'. Rory breaks down in tears, as Sam gets up and puts her arms around him. She then pulls up a chair for him at the table, sets a place, and he joins them for breakfast holding Allison's hand.

'The Nest' is a slow burn movie that has at its heart rage, resentment and despair that starts out all lovey dovey and shortly after relocating from the US to England the cracks in the relationship start to appear, and by the end there is a reconciliation of sorts and a thin sliver of hope for this dysfunctional family. Jude Law and Carrie Coon are on top form in their portrayal of husband and wife keeping the rapport and the emotional rollercoaster ride very real and believable as their seemingly idyllic marriage and lifestyle slowly begins to unravel before our very eyes. Law plays it like an English version of Gordon Gecko from 'Wall Street' - same era that coined the phrase 'greed is good' and whilst like Gecko, Rory O'Hara has seemingly all the trappings of his success, unlike Gecko Rory's riches are made up, the tank is empty and he can never be entirely happy or satisfied with his lot. As for Director and Writer Sean Durkin, he has crafted a film that pays attention to the detail in building the tension, developing the story behind each of the characters, and unfolding the marital implosion in small yet nuanced ways. That said, I was left a little frustrated and depressed by this film's bleakness and the unanswered questions that were left hanging once the end credits rolled, but despite this the film is worth a look for Law's and Coon's convincing, possibly never been better performances. 

'The Nest' warrants three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-