The Bite Magazine - Autumn/Winter 2022 - Issue 32

bitefilmreview The story, set in Cornwall in 1973, explores rich Cornish folklore horror and its coastal scenery with many cliffs ex- posed to geological studies. It unfolds over one month on a remote island off the Cornish coast and sets the tone of a very moody, thriller-like, subtle, not-your-everyday-like horror. Jenkin’s style is quite unusual for the genre, where he portrays the protagonist’s daily observations of the flower through metaphysical, almost astral time travelling. What feels authentically beautiful is the director continues to film in 16 mm, enhancing the drama’s value with his signature post-sync sound to help build this dream-like world. The filming style suggests ‘70s filmmaking, per- fectly resembling this cinematic era, alongside gorgeous colours and beautiful grain structure. You will also notice cooler shadows, reduced contrast, and faded colours throughout the film. However, one feature that stands out throughout the whole movie is the protagonist’s red coat. We could inter- pret it as the lead actress’ inner-tamed passion for life and perhaps her sexuality since we see some nudity in the film. Of course, as with the work of the greatest artists, Mark Jenkin leaves room for the viewers’ interpretations, never really revealing the meanings but leaving dialogue and conversations after the screening. Enys Men follows the life of a middle-aged woman, a wildlife volunteer, who lives in solitude in a small secluded cottage. She’s dedicated her life to the daily observation of a rare flower, inspecting its condition, taking the soil temperature and recording the results in her notebook. At first sight, this feels like typical behaviour until the woman drops a stone into the abandoned tin mine, curiously wait- ing for the water to splash. Afterwards, she ritualistically returns to the house to make herself tea, turns on a petrol generator (which she dramatically depends on), listens to a transistor radio and before falling asleep, indulges herself in reading, A Blueprint for Survival by Teddy Goldsmith. Later, the director introduces other aspects and memories around the leading lady, such as her younger self (played by Flo Crowe) in a house. The film’s pacing resembles the life of someone seeking to find themselves and commit- ting their life to self-discovery away from outside noise - no phone, television, entertainment or people. Through- out the film, the protagonist faces one human interaction when she runs out of petrol delivered by a local man (Edward Rowe). Due to this encounter, we witness more of the woman’s memories or fantasies about having an intimate relationship with a man. Jenkin beautifully depicted the life of loneliness through minimal to no dialogue, repetition and beautiful acting by Mary Woodvine. Her character gives an impressive- ly naturalistic performance, with hardly any words and intrusive revelations into her mind and body. At first, her monotonous daily routine is calm and normal, but then it takes a sinister twist when she notices lichen growing on one of the plants. If that is not enough, she inspects the lichen growing on her skin, right where the scar on her stomach is. This resemblance to the flower leads us to more metaphys- ical observations questioning the reality of the incident, making us wonder if life in solitude is creating halluci- nations or proving the existence of supernatural forces. The director brings disturbance by sudden stab-like loud