The Wonder * * * ½

Sebastian Lelio is a director who greatly impresses me.  He tends to choose stories in which a woman is the principal character.  He gave us Gloria Bell, Disobedience and A Fantastic Woman, all of which are outstanding films. So I was excited to learn of his latest release. 

Staring the ubiquitous Florence Pugh, it is set in Ireland in the 1860's.  Pugh plays Nurse Wright. She has been hired to keep "watch" on an eleven year old girl who lives with her family in a remote area. The girl has gained a reputation for being divinely blessed as she has not eaten any food for four months.  She claims to be living off manna from heaven. 

Just cut back on the manna, okay?

A committee has been formed made up of local governors and representatives of the church.  By engaging Nurse Wright and a Nun to keep a round the clock watch on young Anna, the committee hope to  prove that her survival without earthly food is indeed a miracle.  

When she is not doing her watch, Nurse Wright stays at the local inn where she meets Mr. Byrne, a journalist who is out to prove the whole thing is a scam.   

Nurse Wright begins to feel a deep affection for young Anna and is so touched by the child's conviction she finds herself believing it just might be true.... for a while.  

But we learn other things about Nurse Wright.  Barely thirty she has already suffered the loss of a husband and child and she is not ready to watch another child die needlessly.  

Although at loggerheads at first Nurse Wright and Mr. Byrne soon find a mutual attraction - and with that an alliance to help Anna.

There are many twist and further complications to the story and it is indeed fascinating and well told. It's a good film, but to be honest I was a little disappointed.  After Lelio's previous work I had expected something a little more adventurous than this somewhat pedestrian narrative, but perhaps that is due to it being commissioned by Netflix, something I didn't realise until afterward.  I paid to view a film in the cinema which is already streaming, which is about as cheeky as the story itself!