‘The Thing With Feathers’ movie review: Benedict Cumberbatch’s soul-shredding performance powers this horror-fantasy

Grief is an intensely idiosyncratic emotion, and radical person antithetic ways of coping. The Thing With Feathers, adapted from Max Porter’s 2015 debut novella, Grief Is the Thing with Feathers, looks astatine a widower (Benedict Cumberbatch) dealing with the nonaccomplishment of his wife, portion trying to beryllium contiguous for his 2 young sons (Richard Boxall, Henry Boxall).

We archetypal conscionable Dad and the boys arsenic they instrumentality from Mum’s (Claire Cartwright) funeral. Dad, a graphic novelist, is evidently shattered. When the boys accidental they would similar to spell backmost to school, helium is rather mislaid astir wherever their things are, and, of course, determination is nary beverage successful the fridge for their meal cereal.

The boys statesman to enactment up, with the younger 1 wetting his furniture and the older 1 being fractious. As Dad works, helium sees his creation, a gigantic Crow (Eric Lampaert), travel to life. First, helium tin spot Crow from the country of his eye, and aboriginal it is afloat realised and, for amended oregon worse, it speaks to Dad.

Crow speaks to Dad successful the supermarket, astatine home, and adjacent dances with him to a beauteous jazz tune. Crow is sometimes sarcastic (“You’re specified a cliché, you know? The dormant woman trope”, “Grieving widower to aisle nine,” “You dependable similar a fridge magnet!”) and sometimes scary.

The boys spot Crow, too. The mode Crow morphs from an insubstantial shadiness to a coagulated signifier with agleam eyes, a cruel beak and eerily quality fingers echoes the stages of grief, from fearfulness to acceptance. The therapist, Dr Bowden (Leo Bill), tells Dad it is clip helium differentiates betwixt grief and despair.

Unlike the book, determination is nary notation of Ted Hughes and his publication of poetry, Crow, which Hughes wrote arsenic a mode of coping with his writer wife, Sylvia Plath’s decease by suicide. The movie besides speaks of the healing quality of creation and literature. Incidentally, the book’s rubric is simply a riff connected the Emily Dickinson poem, ’Hope’ is the happening with feathers.”

Like the book, The Thing With Feathers is told from antithetic perspectives successful the signifier of chapters — Dad, Crow, Boys and The Demon. Cumberbatch is riveting arsenic Dad, but is truthful wrecked that 1 astir wants to look distant astatine this bare show of grief. The boys are fantabulous too, arsenic is David Thewlis arsenic the dependable of Crow, astatine erstwhile cajoling, mothering and a beady-eyed therapist.

Ben Fordesman’s frames seizure a gloomy, rain-splattered London, which is precise antithetic from the agleam and beauteous London of Richard Curtis films, but beauteous nevertheless. For those who consciousness the Crow is not scary enough, oregon that the magic realism does not rather work, it indispensable beryllium said that everyone’s travel of grief is personal, which is wherefore the movie mightiness not talk to all. However, if you are consenting to springiness it clip and place the uneven writing, The Thing with Feathers is simply a fascinating ride.

The Thing with Feathers is presently streaming connected Lionsgate Play