The World to Come
Seen at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.
The soundtrack in Mona Fastvold’s “The World to Come” is the most distinctive thing about it. Composed by Daniel Blumberg, it fits the frontier romance setting but has a contemporary and ethereal atmosphere to it that is something to behold as you listen to it. While more time might allow me to, there’s nothing quite like it in any other film set in this time period that I can think of, and that extends to the song during the end credits. My hope is that, when the film comes out in early March, the soundtrack is available so I can just listen and soak it in. It’s immediately destined to be one of my favorites from this year.
As insensitive as it’s going to sound because of how dismissive it is to say, much of “The World to Come” almost felt like a gender-reserved “Brokeback Mountain,” with it being two women who fall in love rather than two men, and how the unspoken consequences of what that means for them lead both into an emotional tailspin when they are not able to sate those urges. Again, I respect how dismissive that is- it’s just where my mind went while watching it. But there’s more to this film than just a lesbian romance, and that’s where Fastvold and her actors elevate the screenplay by Jim Sheperd and Ron Hansen. This isn’t just about unspoken romantic urges between people of the same sex, but about the toxic nature of gender roles in a marriage, overcoming loss, and finding comfort in others. When these are the ideas the film is exploring, it’s a success.
We begin with Abigail (Katherine Waterston) and Dyer (Casey Affleck), and Abigail’s inner monologue, so filled with uncertainty about her life. It is 1856, a year after they have lost their second child to illness, and they have not quite put the pieces back together; they try to maintain a happy life for Nellie (Karina Ziana Gherasim), but it is a daily struggle. One day, a couple moves just down the way; they are renting a farm. Tallie (Vanessa Kirby) becomes a frequent visitor to Abigail and Dyer’s home, where she feels welcome while Finney (Christopher Abbott) works. There’s something not quite right with Tallie and Finney’s marriage- he is demanding of her, and suffocating her emotionally. She feels free with Abigail, and they become more than just friends, fulfilling a sense of connection both have needed for a while. When that connection is broken, however, it’s emotionally brutal for the couple, and could be deadly if figured out.
“The World to Come” is a beautiful movie to look at- next to the score, André Chemetoff’s cinematography is a wonder at times- but it comes most alive in the performances. Affleck has the most understated performance, and the only likely to be least appreciated, but when it matters, Dyer is an anchor for Abigail, and his performance sneaks up on you and delivers. Abbott has been on a tear as an actor, and Finney is a horrible, memorable bastard in this film- he is emotionally abusing Tallie with his sense of entitlement in a way that has lasting effects on her. Waterston and Kirby are the highlights of the film, though. Admittedly, Abigail’s inner monologue drags the movie down right up to the point that Tallie enters the picture, but when the women are onscreen, they are warm and wonderful together, and make the heartbreak they feel when they’re apart later in the movie so devastating. Thanks to them and Fastvold, “The World to Come” rises above any cynical attempt to pigeon hole it as one thing, and catches us in the heart on the strength of its best qualities.
