This more pithily titled adaptation of Max Porter’s acclaimed novella Grief Is The Thing With Feathers by British writer-director Dylan Southern (Meet Me in the Bathroom) has the feel of a mental-health handbook. Split into four chapters, the film illustrates the intrusion, persistence and necessity of grief in the lives of a new widower and his sons (all of whom remain unnamed) as the family acclimates to their new reality.
As ‘Dad’, Benedict Cumberbatch delivers a moving, committed performance as a father who does not know how to move forward after this stupendous loss. But his brilliance is at odds with the repetitive script, which constantly bludgeons him with quips about coping. The story gains momentum when a wild crow gains entry into the house and the film pivots towards psychological horror. Initially an ominous, disembodied voice (a terrific David Thewlis), the anthropomorphic bird provokes, rebukes, soothes, and laughs; it does not take us long to understand that Crow is a projection of Dad’s grief. Having emerged from Dad’s cathartic drawings, Crow is a life-size manifestation of his inner turmoil.
There are strong echoes of Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook, which also made a physical monster of grief and used it as the driving force for emotional unravelling within a fragmented family. But Southern seems unsure about what to do with his beast. Embodied by actor Eric Lampaert in a suit, Crow’s aggressive gestures appear quite silly at times. The film neither dives fully into the horror (the jump-scares are perfunctory) nor adequately addresses the all-consuming nature of grief on a metaphorical level. In trying to make grief palatable, the film flattens its dangerously expansive scope.
Benedict Cumberbatch keeps this therapy session ticking over
There are no fresh insights about the nature of grief in a wordy script that often has its characters explaining the symbolism. This anxiety around being misunderstood is painfully evident throughout the film, perhaps reflecting a documentary director’s nervous first foray into fiction filmmaking.
Ultimately, The Thing With Feathers strains for an emotional complexity that it can’t deliver on. It’s an earnest film that wants to be scrutinised and neatly diagnosed like a patient on a couch, but only Cumberbatch keeps this therapy session ticking over.
In UK and Ireland cinemas Fri Nov 21.