Prone to Violence, Two People Become Lovers

Jessie Buckley and Johnny Flynn in "Beast"
Photo Credit: RottenTomatoes.com

“We all go a little mad sometimes.  Haven’t you?”  Who can forget these words said by Norman Bates to Marion Crane in Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece, “Psycho”?  In this film, Hitchcock encapsulated his characters’ desires to commit acts that were out of the ordinary, even sinister in some cases.  Whether it be Marion stealing $40,000 from her job or Norman murdering her in the shower, Hitchcock explored his characters’ darkest impulses.

However, “a little mad” might be an understatement when it comes to the two main characters in Michael Pearce’s psychological-thriller, “Beast.”  With vigorous performance from Jessie Buckley and Johnny Flynn, Pearce takes a hard look at people’s inherent, animalistic instincts and the consequences that can arise when they’re unleashed.

Moll (Buckley) is a young woman living with her family on a small island community off the coast of England.  Upon meeting a peculiar man named Pascal (Flynn), he encourages her to leave her family and seek a more fulfilling life.  After he’s seen as a suspect in a string of murders occurring across the island, Moll will do whatever it takes to defend him.

Buckley delivers shattering work as Moll, showing her character’s desire to escape her demanding family for something less stifling.  It’s a performance where Buckley exhibits Moll coming into who she is as a person, displaying shifts between quiet ferocity and occasional bursts of intensity, all of which add to her character’s unpredictability.  Throughout the film, you see the steady progression of Moll as she goes from being a sheltered young woman to someone who’s more risky, and Buckley does terrific work in selling Moll’s break from her normal life.

Flynn manages to be as disarming as he is enigmatic.  We know there’s more to Pascal than he’s letting on, and even if he’s the murderer (I’m not saying he is or isn’t), Flynn does well in not telegraphing his intentions to you and keeps his mannerisms in check so that he still seems like a calm individual.  However, as the film goes on, we learn some things about him that have us change our perception of him, and the way that Flynn portrays the character keeps us hooked into trying to figure out what his intentions are, as he’s not an easy person to figure out.

Pearce’s screenplay doesn’t just focus on trying to solve who’s been committing the murders, but also hones in on the outsider nature of his two main characters and plays with our expectations as to the kind of people that these characters are.  We have Moll, who had a violent episode years ago, but holds an aura that suggests she’s not a violent person, encouraging us to figure out her true self; and then, we have Pascal, who we’re not sure if he’s the culprit behind the murders, but he’s not without a questionable and somewhat violent history himself.  We know that there’s something more to both of them, as they’re individuals who could have violent tendencies, but we’re not sure how far they can take them.

As a director, Pearce uses the isolated areas of the island to great effect, having the characters spend some time near the sea and in the woods to emphasize their animal-like relishing of the outdoors.  He creates scenes that get your blood pumping without having the film go into your typical psychological-thriller territory, achieving this with the atmosphere and tense dialogues between the characters.  At a few points, however, Pearce gives us a scene that’s a bit more harrowing, such as a couple of dream sequences of Moll’s that hint at her possible fondness for violence.  These scenes are placed in the story in such a way that make you believe at first that what you’re seeing is real, and this is all thanks to the work from editor Maya Maffioli. 

Between its terrific performances, suspenseful story, and a stunning feature-film directorial debut from Pearce, “Beast” is an animal that keeps you locked in its teeth. 

Final grade: A