"Dragonfly" - Isolation, Codependency, and Crushing Mundanity

This year’s Tribeca International Film Festival, like always, has introduced us to some incredible new voices. Lower Manhattan has been buzzing this week with festival-goers singing praises for filmmakers young and old that are showing us all who they are in unexpected, image-defining ways. However, the film that has moved me the most so far has been Dragonfly from veteran British filmmaker, Paul Andrew Williams. A film that tears at your heartstrings before ripping them completely out of your chest.

Credit: Lissa Haines-Beardow

Oscar-nominated actresses Andrea Riseborough and Brenda Blethyn deliver two staggering performances as lonely neighbors Colleen and Elsie, respectively. Colleen assumes a sort-of protective caretaker role over Elsie after being dissatisfied with her weekly in-house nurse visits. What follows is one of the most devastating commentaries on loneliness, codependence, and the banality of the middle-class experience I’ve seen in quite some time. 

Despite many scenes in this film taking place in wide-open exterior locations, the film’s sharp, unsettling depiction of general isolation is never stronger than in these following moments. For every town square, shop, or mall that Colleen finds herself in throughout the course of the film, there is an increasing feeling of containment present that made me put more effort into every subsequent breath. These locations are never as populated as they should be, the color always seems to be drained out of every exchange, and there is never any potential form of escape for anyone. Some of the greatest depictions of these eras of British life are most present in the cinema of Ken Loach, and there is so much adapted inspiration from his films present here. 

These two women have been consistently let down by the people in their lives, if they were ever present at all. With that comes so much love with nowhere to be placed, as well as a deep-seeded anger that they are often blissfully unaware of. The level of tension on display with each passing scene, with moments that could not possibly be more mundane, was something to behold.

The pace of the film is searingly slow, and there was more than one walkout at my press screening, but I could have cut the tension that I was feeling with a dulled prop knife. Each line of dialogue reads as if at least one of the characters is walking on eggshells, and the motivation for why is always hidden underneath the surface.

Admittedly, once we start to get answers, and the final act leans more into its thriller aspects, some of the maximalist depictions of events can be read as a mild betrayal to the first hour and fifteen minutes of the film, but several of the images I still found unforgettable. 

The film briefly comments on aging and beauty standards as well in a way I found thoroughly refreshing and efficient. For how short of a film it is, there is so much thematic diversity sprinkled throughout that always feels earned, and explained to the extent necessary for the story. Nothing feels unnecessary, or improperly developed. 

We are such social, protective, and dependent creatures that when closed off for long enough, become something far more primal. There are no overdramatic theatrics about Dragonfly’s depiction of this side of the human experience. It’s sad, often drowned out by lack of empathy, and never remembered after at the very most an evening news cycle. It’s our most basic, humane needs and desires as humans that are often weaponized against us when we least expect them to be. And who will be around to care once it’s all done? In all likelihood, not a soul.

I find myself having much less to say about Dragonfly than I thought I would. It is glacially slow, its moments of relief are minimal, and you’ll likely be leaving it in a far worse mood than before you entered the cinema. It won’t be for everyone, as evidenced by the crowd’s reactions, but I found it to be a thoroughly engaging character study of two deeply sympathetic women, portrayed by two of our current greatest performers. The jury is still out as to when, where, and by who this film will be distributed, but until that time comes, I highly recommend keeping Dragonfly on your radar.