Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Jack James
Starring: Mary Roubos, Roxy Bugler, Tom Cray, Gareth Haynes, Daniel Peace, Liz
Farahadi
Wild Bones opens with a scene that resembles an
interpretive dance number. Alone in her isolated home in the English
countryside, Fay (Roxy Bugler) contorts her body in rhythmic
gyrations, performing a ballet of sorts in her stony surrounds. But
something's not quite right about this dance. Fay seems to be forcing
herself to perform, as though she's her own demanding parent, her
shoulder blades almost tearing through her skin like a harpy about to
sprout wings. By the end of the scene it's unclear whether Fay is
indulging in recreation or torture.
If you've seen writer/director Jack James' previous feature,
2015's
Malady, you know you're not in for an easy ride here. In that movie Bugler
played a woman who becomes increasingly mentally unstable following her
mother's death, throwing herself into a relationship with the first man
she encounters. It seems James knows what he likes, as he's cast Bugler
in an almost identical role for his second feature.
This time it's a father's death that sets the drama in motion. Fay
receives a phone call from her half-sister Alice (Mary Roubos),
who informs her that they have inherited a house from their father, a
building neither sister previously knew existed. Fay's response – "Have
you spoken to Dad?" – is a clear indication that all is not well with
this woman.
Hoping to convince Fay to move into their inherited home, Alice pays
her a visit with a male friend, Gary (Tom Cray), in tow. Fay is
awkward in her younger sister's presence (they share the same father but
different mothers) but begins to open up to Gary, who asks her personal
questions more befitting a therapist than some strange bloke who just
arrived unannounced. Alice's suggestion to visit the beach in the middle
of a snowy winter forces us to question her motives. Is Fay set to be
gaslit by her sister? When Gary and Fay become lovers and the former
moves into her home while disappearing for days on end, it seems Fay's
troubles may be set to increase.
Those troubles stem initially from her childhood mistreatment at the
hands of her stepmother Candace (Liz Farahadi), Alice's birth
mother. Fay claims she forced her to contort her body in unnatural and
painful ways to become a better dancer, and also that she stubbed
cigarettes out on her flesh. Alice refuses to believe Fay's accusations,
claiming it was actually their father who abused Fay, but Fay is having
none of it. Certainly her arms bear the marks of physical abuse, but
it's unclear who the guilty party might be. Her Father? Her stepmother?
Herself? Scenes are intercut with the shadowy presence of a shrouded
figure puffing on cigarettes, but their identity is similarly
clouded.
James does such an effective job of putting us in the headspace of a
mentally troubled woman that many viewers will likely struggle to make
it through Wild Bones. It's a discomfiting watch, with Bugler's performance,
Ross Oliver's discordant score and James' unconventional framing
and editing all combining to elicit the feel of a waking nightmare. The
timeline is fractured and unclear, with scenes that you presume to be
taking place just hours apart revealing themselves as separated by
weeks. Despite its experimental trappings, there's a clear narrative
here, but by the end you might find yourself questioning whether a more
conventionally dramatic approach might have done this examination of
mental illness and familial trauma more justice.
