A young woman finds herself dealing with an unplanned pregnancy after an encounter with an injured soldier.
Review by Eric Hillis
Directed by: Marc Evans
Starring: Leisa Gwenllian, Tom Rhys Harries, Gavin Lee Lewis, Nel Rhys Lewis, Owen Alun, Carys Gwilym
Many a Greek myth has been refitted to a more modern setting in the movies. Following the likes of Black Orpheus (Orpheus and Eurydice), O Brother Where Art Thou (The Odyssey) and even Mannequin (Pygmalion and Galatea) comes Effi O Blaenau, which shares the same Greek inspiration as Yorgos Lanthimos's The Killing of a Scared Deer. Both movies have their roots in the myth of 'Iphigenia in Aulis', but Effi O Blaenau hones in on the story's idea of a young woman questioning why her life should be sacrificed to serve some abstract greater good.
Director Marc Evans' film is adapted from Gary Owens' one-woman stage play 'Iphigenia in Splott', which transposed the myth to the Welsh town of Splott, a suburb of the capital Cardiff. Evans' has gone one-step further, relocating the drama to the Welsh-language enclave of Blaenau Ffestiniog, a former mining town that like so many such places in the UK, has seen better days to say the least.
It's here that we find our fiery anti-heroine Effi (Leisa Gwenllian), a purposeless young woman who spends her nights getting drunk with her housemate Leanne (Nel Rhys Lewis) and her occasional friend with benefits Kev (Owen Alun), who follows her around like a puppy dog and supplies her with free drugs and booze. Her days are spent nursing hangovers, eating pot noodles in her dressing gown and rowing with neighbours and her long-suffering grandmother (Carys Gwilym), who raised her when she was abandoned by her mother.
Effi is at war with the world, but mostly with herself. She is on a nihilistic path to destruction until a potentially life-changing encounter with Lee (Tom Rhys Harries), a young soldier who has recently returned to Wales minus one of his legs. Effi's reaction to Lee's prosthetic limb is played with a mix of brutal honesty and sensitivity. She admits the discomfort it makes her feel, but Lee's helplessness seems to bring out a maternal quality in Effi. For perhaps the first time in her life she has encountered someone with bigger problems than her own, and we can almost see her narcissism fall from her shoulders like a cloak tossed to the wind.
If it seems initially like Effi O Blaenau is set to deliver a Welsh spin on Hal Ashby's Coming Home, any such romantic notions are quickly dispelled. Effi is head over stripper heels for Lee, but she can't receive any response to her texts and phone calls. After witnessing Effi treat so many others with contempt, it would be easy to feel as though she has gotten a taste of her own medicine, but it is testament to Gwenllian's performance that we feel sympathy for the naive lass.
Thing is though, Effi doesn't want any such sympathy. She has a laser focus on what she wants from life. Learning that Lee has made her pregnant, she decides to keep the child for two utterly selfish reasons, eyeing the extra benefits she will receive and believing Lee will have no choice but to take her if he's the father of her child. Effi defines the spirit of every post-industrial town that has been left to rot because it no longer serves its original purpose of making people in more glamorous parts of the country wealthy. She isn't going down without a fight, but we know in these bouts the house always wins.
If you've seen enough British social realist dramas you'll see most of Effi O Blaenau's plot beats coming from two valleys away. We know that Effi's plans aren't going to work out and that things are only going to get worse for her, but even in the grim milieu of the kitchen sink drama, we are unprepared for the emotional ringer the film puts its protagonist and the audience through. The finger of blame is ultimately pointed so explicitly at the UK's London-centric governance that Effi O Blaenau should prove a gift to the Welsh separatist party Plaid Cymru.
Gwenllian is an instant star, and watching her portray Effi's journey from a brash sociopath to a scared little girl desperate to be loved is one of the highlights of recent British indie cinema. If the movie's final act relies on a couple of predictable clichés, Gwenllian's performance greatly helps the film earn such turns. Effi describes her home town as the sort of place where you can either sink or swim. Thanks to Evans' sensitive direction and the relatably raw performances he mines from his outstanding lead and her co-stars, Effi O Blaenau keeps its head above the water.
Effi O Blaenau is in UK cinemas from June 19th.
