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Much excitement was to be had as two cast members of "Game of Thrones" were reunited onscreen in this sloggish Medieval tale. It probably would have meant something to me, as well, if I had ever watched an episode of "Game of Thrones."
Anne (Sophie Tucker) and Morwen (Marcia Gay Harden) wait for Anne's husband/Morwen's son Seamus (Laurence O'Fuarain) to return from war. The two women live together in a small shack, almost starving to death in between trips to church to pray for their loved one. Jago (Kit Harington), who left with Seamus, shows up and tells the women that Seamus was murdered by thieves after they went AWOL from the fighting and decided to return home. Anne grieves for her husband and the life they were going to build together, but she is then attracted to Jago, who has been in love with her since they were kids. Morwen does not like seeing this new coupling, it is an affront to her deep religious beliefs that she ignores when she stabs and kills innocent men in the name of robbing them and selling their pilfered possessions at the local market in order to survive. And what of that mysterious knight on a white horse who keeps showing up in the woods around the women's cabin?
Writer/director Natasha Kermani has crafted an identity crisis. The cinematography is appropriately dim and beautiful. The intrusive musical score sounds like a late night commercial for Zamfir's greatest hits. The cast tries, but aside from a few shots of a cute baby, I could not come up with one sympathetic character. Watching these cretins go through their nihilistic motions in a story that moves at a crawl makes a ninety-four minute film feel twice as long. Anne goes from crumbling beneath the soft-spoken, murderous cruelty of her mother-in-law to a "I am woman, hear me roar" girlboss moment at the climax of the film that feels out of place and narcissistic in light of what is happening in the story. Good on you, Anne, but can we get back to the knight and his mystical helmet?
There are a few eating scenes in the opening moments of the film that turned my stomach worse than watching New York City mayor Bill de Blasio downing french fries during COVID. It's an odd juxtaposition to watch these seemingly starving women take down men with Morwen's trusty blade, as herds of deer frolic in the forest just a few feet away. Jago is a fisherman, but the women still rely on putrid-looking soup to survive. The film tries unsuccessfully to generate suspense, but we already know what Morwen is going to do everytime she crosses paths with a man. Anne doesn't struggle eternally with her mores and values, she seems to judge herself based on how Morwen or Jago tells her to feel. Morwen is not a flamboyant villain, she is a vile person struggling with mental illness and deep justification issues, but Anne is too ensconsed in "her place" to stand up to her.
The trailer for this film gave it a "The Witch"/"Midsommar" vibe. This served as my first watched release of 2026, and nothing more.
MPA Rated (R)- Physical violence, gore, profanity, some sexual references, adult situations
