The Nest
Rory desperately wants to do something extraordinary for himself. He’s got a family he’s proud of, and has done alright for himself in America, but now, he feels like it’s time for him to make his mark in his home country. So, he packs up his wife and kids and moves into a huge, run-down mansion he has already paid a year’s rent for, and is ready for a new job with the man he once was mentored by. He wants to give his family everything, but is that what they need?
Sean Durkin’s “The Nest” looks at a man feeling entitled towards a certain type of life, and how that entitlement doesn’t really result in what’s best for his family. Rory, played by a fantastic Jude Law, has an idea of what life should be like that feels like an outdated idea of success, even in the 1980s, when this film is set. When we see ourselves as entitled to a certain life, it blinds us to the needs and desires of others, and that’s, invariably, going to have an impact on our relationships. On the surface, Rory does have his family’s best interests at heart, but it’s the ways in which he goes about it is where his “best interests” become questionable. The move itself to England from America, where they were around Allison’s (Carrie Coon) parents, stinks of arrogance and a need to establish himself as a big fish in a small pond. From the house he buys to the fact that he has Allison’s horse shipped over to him sending their son, Benjamin (Charlie Shotwell), to an expensive private school, Rory is giving off the illusion of wealth and power, and it isn’t really impressing anyone. And, as things start off rough, Rory’s illusion starts to break down, causing a strain on his marriage that becomes the main tension of the film.
Durkin’s film seems to set up a horror film with the mansion Rory has bought, but this isn’t about jump scares and supernatural threats but the strain trying to maintain an illusion has on a marriage. The kids, including teenager Samantha (Oona Roche), try to make their own lives work, but Allison spirals into a depression, especially as she begins to see how irresponsibly Rory has been living to try and live like the wealthy, leaving bills unpaid and trying to put together a life that will improve his standing with the businessmen he’s trying to impress. Coon is terrific at showing Allison become unhinged emotionally without going over-the-top, keeping things at a simmering rage and anxiety that is palpable. There’s a pain to her life with Rory that almost calcifies until she forces Rory to reckon with the direction he’s taken their lives in the final scenes. That last scene reminded me a lot of the emotional wallop Ken Loach’s “Sorry We Missed You” gives you in its final moments. We don’t know if the family will survive what we’ve seen, but it looks like they may try to, and that’s hopeful, as it is.
