DAPHNE
Cert 15 Running time 86 minutes
Explore the life of a modern single woman in this low-budget British drama which resembles Bridget Jones without the jokes.
This ode to a multicultural world of pubs, cabs and kebabs is far from a glossy tourist trap vision of London, but one reeking of urban isolation and 21st century angst.
Outwardly cynical and quietly vulnerable, middle-class Daphne works in the kitchen of an artisan restaurant and reads philosophy in her spare time.
Quick witted and articulate, she’s an entertainingly abrasive character and Emily Beecham’s strong central performance offers wonderful depth.
It’s a gift of a role, full of complexity and contradiction. Refreshingly, success in life is not measured by finding a wealthy husband but in recognising her own self-worth.
But when she witnesses a stabbing, she begins to lose herself in alcohol, drugs and sexual encounters.
The episodic script is painfully matter of fact about her unsatisfactory life and provides plenty of black humour, but too little joy or laughter.
100 Acre Wood is an idyllic adventure playground and the film is a hymn to the stunning rural beauty of England