Nocebo
Socially conscious folk horror flick doesn't quite stick.
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I wasn’t a huge fan of Irish director Lorcan Finnegan and his screenwriter Garret Shanley’s last film “Vivarium” nor did I totally respond to their latest “Nocebo” (now available in select theaters including Showtime Cinema in Mooresville, Ind. and Studio 10 Cinemas in Shelbyville, Ind. prior to streaming beginning Tuesday, Nov. 22). I can clearly see that these men are talented, but for whatever reason these two films didn’t resonate with me.
Eva Green stars as Christine, a Dublin-based children’s fashion designer who lives a life of luxury alongside her marketing manager husband Felix (Mark Strong) and their adorable daughter Roberta AKA Bobs (Billie Gadsdon). Christine’s life becomes all the more complicated when she develops a mysterious disease. Filipina housekeeper Diana (Chai Fonacier) arrives to assist the ailing matriarch – she cooks the family delicious meals, is kind to and good with Bobs (even if the tyrannical tyke often doesn’t return the favor) and even employs alternative medicine to help alleviate Christine’s maladies. Turns out Christine and Diana share a past trauma and the caretaker isn’t all she’s cracked up to be.
There’s much to admire about “Nocebo.” Green and Strong are consummate professionals and turn in solid workmanlike performances. Their characters aren’t especially likable, but at the very least they’re interesting. They’re ably supported by Fonacier, who easily oscillates between nasty and nice with great finesse. On paper Green is ostensibly the heroine and Fonacier the villainess – the movie skillfully inverts this idea.
Shanley’s script is serviceable, but its foreboding dread is so pronounced that thrills are nil. The downer denouement is all but a foregone conclusion. The film has a social conscious that’s commendable, but its message could be communicated more concisely … I don’t need my hand held at every turn. (The Filipinas raging against the largely white and moneyed machine here and in Ruben Östlund’s recent “Triangle of Sadness” could make the two an interesting double bill.)
“Nocebo” as photographed by Polish cinematographer and frequent Jennifer Kent collaborator Radek Ladczuk (“The Babadook,” “The Nightingale”) is a handsome, darkly-hued picture, but arguably not as visually striking as “Vivarium.” The flick also boasts one of the year’s better title cards.
“Nocebo” is a socially conscious piece of folk horror and a sturdy enough addition to the nasty nanny subgenre (think “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” not porno, pervs!). Finnegan and Shanley show promise yet again … here’s hoping whatever they dream up next connects with me on a deeper level.