Daisy Ridley stars in this domestic thriller, penned from an idea of her own making, as Annette, the mother of a soon to be child actress who is cast alongside Matilda Lutz’s Alicia. Alicia has recently had a sex tape leaked which Annette’s distant husband Ben (Shazad Latif) is all too aware of. While Annette is trying to get her career back on track and struggling to look after her two children, Ben volunteers to chaperone their daughter onto the film set where Ben starts to form a connection with Alicia. With frequent visits to the set and Ben becoming more and more aloof with her, Annette starts to imagine the worst and takes matters into her own hands.
The Star Wars curse has left its mark on Daisy Ridley as she has struggled to make a name for herself past The Rise Of Skywalker, with her career not seeing the heights of the likes of her co-star Adam Driver, for example. With Magpie, things may be looking up for the former Jedi. Ridley’s performance is fantastic, especially after the conclusion of what is quite a rocky first act. You can see her struggle to make connections with her husband and she looks longingly into his eyes searching for the bond they once had. As the film goes on, she transforms that sorrow into vengeful anger to powerful effect. All this while she convincingly portrays the intense stress of motherhood, accompanied by accurately irritating sound bytes of her baby son screaming. Casting directors who watch this will take note and give Ridley the roles she quite clearly deserves.
She is unfortunately let down by her husband, and not just in the sense of him being unfaithful. Ben’s dialogue is written to show a man so selfish and arrogant that he is willing to destroy his family for the sake of having any form of association with a famously beautiful actress. He has so many lines that cut deep into both Annette and the audience and are so unbelievably vulgar that it’s hard to believe someone would even say them. These lines are delivered with a monotone voice and a face with less expression than a tree trunk. Shazad Latif’s performance turns what should be one of the most hate-able villains of the year into one of the most annoying and egregious parts of the film. If the part had been given to someone with even an ounce more charisma it would really have elevated the film into truly great territory but alas, the budget must have mostly been spent on the lead actress.
The film has a slow first act which doesn’t show much in the way of creative flair, is rather badly edited and you’d be forgiven for thinking that you were watching a student film. When the second act hits however, Sam Yates takes his directing stabilisers off and really shows off what he can do. One of his best feats is showing what is probably the best filmed text conversation ever, that also becomes the set up for a very well deserved emotional climax.
Magpie is slow to start but eventually brings you into its domestic drama with great directing and a fantastic lead performance. With a different co-star and a deeper script this could have been excellent but it’s definitely worth the watch for Daisy Ridley’s new addition to her showreel.
Magpie is available on UK and Ireland digital platforms 11 November
