Mortimer at home in horror

Relic gave Emily Mortimer the opportunity to reignite a love affair, writes Michele Manelis

EMILY Mortimer explores such discomforting subjects as ageing, dementia and the supernatural in new Stan movie Relic – an art-house horror flick where evil lurks in the shadows – and in doing so, renewed her love affair with Melbourne.

The British actress had to adopt an Australian accent to play the central role of Kay in this multi-generational story about her elderly mother Edna (Robyn Nevin), who suffers from dementia and unexpectedly goes missing.

Kay and her daughter Sam (Bella Heathcote) travel to their remote family home to find Edna, but instead are faced with a vacant house in disarray. When Edna returns, Kay discovers a sinister presence haunting her mother’s house and taking control of her.

Mortimer welcomed the chance to match it on screen with two of Australia’s most impressive female talents. “I was in a family of two bona fide Australian women, with Bella and Robyn, so there was no fudging the accent,” she laughs. “But I worked really, really hard on it with a coach. It was a daily challenge, and I’d been practising for months before the job.”

The film was shot in Melbourne, where Heathcote was born and raised.

“I know it’s a cliché because everyone loves Melbourne, but I love Melbourne – such a great city, even in winter,” 48-year-old Mortimer says.

“And such delicious food. Bella took me around and I also got to know Sydney from Robyn, so I got the vibe of both cities. It felt very familiar being in Australia.”

Mortimer thinks the release of Relic is indeed timely while we’re amid the COVID-19 crisis.

“As a culture, we’ve been forced to look death in the eye recently in a way the Western world hasn’t done before,” she says.

“In other cultures they’re often better at facing death, talking about it, and it being a part of life.” As the subject of dementia is one of the primary themes in the movie, Mortimer says: “I have to say, what’s brilliant about this movie is that, the horror element aside, there’s nothing scarier than the horror of watching the person you love decline, literally disintegrate mentally and physically before your eyes. When you’ve had someone who always looked at you with love, to then look at you like a stranger, that is scarier than anything you’ll ever see in a horror movie.” She offers praise for Australian-Japanese director Natalie Erika James, who also co-wrote the script.

“I think Natalie is a real auteur,” she says. “She really tapped into that element [dementia] in such an audacious and visceral but also very moving way. I was blown away by her.” RELIC STREAMING FROM TOMORROW ON STAN