Days of the Bagnold Summer, 2019.
Directed by Simon Bird.
Starring Monica Dolan, Earl Cave, Rob Brydon, Alice Lowe, Tamsin Greig, Elliot Speller-Gillott, Grace Hogg-Robinson and Tim Key.
SYNOPSIS:
A mother and daughter who are drifting increasingly further apart are forced to spend a dull summer together when more exciting plans fall through.
One of the joys of recent years has been young performers best known for very specific franchises spinning off and doing entirely different things. Kristen Stewart has become one of our most versatile off-kilter leading ladies, Robert Pattinson has made massively odd movies with the likes of David Cronenberg, Robert Eggers and the Safdie Brothers and Daniel Radcliffe has gone from Harry Potter to farting corpse. The Inbetweeners star Simon Bird hasn’t quite taken such a drastic left-turn with his smart, sweet directorial debut Days of the Bagnold Summer, but he’s certainly a long way from the world of crude sexual banter and briefcase-based jibes.
Adapted from Joff Winterhart’s graphic novel of the same name, with a script by Lisa Owens, the movie follows 50-something librarian Sue (Monica Dolan) and her sullen, metalhead son Daniel (Earl Cave). The teen had been due to spend the summer with his unreliable dad and his new, younger partner in Florida, but he has let his son down, dooming both Sue and Daniel to a dull, suburban July under each other’s feet with little to do but snipe.
Organised into four loose – and probably unnecessary – chapters based around various phases of the languorous summer, the movie is a wry meditation on the antagonism between a loving mother and son who simply don’t understand each other. Dolan’s buttoned-up, unfailingly passive Sue stands in stark contrast to her black-clad, permanently angry son, whose instinct is always to lash out at the nearest person as he struggles to define himself – he denies being a goth, but can only reply “dunno” when he’s asked “what are you then?” – on the brink of adulthood.
This is a plot-light movie, with much of its success on the shoulders of Dolan and Cave. Thankfully, both rise to the challenge with delightfully observed portrayals of the sort of people we can all recognise. Daniel simmers with rage-induced apathy, but Cave is careful to ensure that the inherent warmth of a teenager towards their mother is able to shine occasionally through his performative gloom. Dolan, meanwhile, is recognisably subdued as a woman accustomed to sacrificing everything for her family, willing to be walked on at every turn, whether by her ex-husband, her son or her slimy new beau – played with delectably insidious faux-charm by Rob Brydon.
The performances are smartly observed, with Bird proving adapt at picking up the little grace notes in performances and the details that round out the characters, such as the way Sue never orders a cake of her own at a coffee shop, but always wants a little of Daniel’s. The film quietly pricks at the inherent privilege of suburban Middle England – there’s a great running thread about a hyper-serious local metal band – and plays to the very British instinct for repression and bottled-up emotion. It does, however, feel a little too cosy and understated for its own good at times.
But that’s not to say Days of the Bagnold Summer doesn’t work as a straight comedy. It seldom reaches for the broad laughs that have been a hallmark of Bird’s acting career, but there’s a pleasantly wry tone to the movie, helped by the galaxy of comedy supporting stars. Brydon shines as a loathsome lothario, while Alice Lowe does typically excellent work as Sue’s younger sister and Tamsin Greig is delightfully airy as a hippie-like woman with a fondness for jewellery made of “Nepalese teak”. Tim Key also deserves praise for a single scene as a fudge shop demonstrator that almost steals the whole movie.
Minor-key and understated to a fault, Days of the Bagnold Summer is an accomplished directorial debut for Bird. It’s occasionally a little too quiet for its own good – it feels like it pulls away from more acerbic class critique – but shines when the focus is placed upon the wryly-observed details of these two perfectly-played characters’ lives. It’s the filmic equivalent of a pleasant breeze, carrying the audience gently through a believable, intriguing world that, while light on incident, is recognisably and powerfully human.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Tom Beasley is a freelance film journalist and wrestling fan. Follow him on Twitter via @TomJBeasley for movie opinions, wrestling stuff and puns.
