The Wonder

Set in the Irish Midlands in 1859 as an English nurse, Lib Wright, goes to a tiny village to observe what some see as a medical anomaly and others a miracle, that a girl has survived without food for months. Tourists flock to see 11-year-old Anna O’Donnell, and a journalist has come to cover the sensation as two strangers transform each other’s lives in a story of love pitted against evil.

  • Released: 2022-11-02
  • Runtime: 103 minutes
  • Genre: Drama, History, Mystery
  • Stars: Florence Pugh, Tom Burke, Niamh Algar, Elaine Cassidy, Kíla Lord Cassidy, Toby Jones, Ciarán Hinds, Dermot Crowley, Caolan Byrne, Brían F. O'Byrne, Josie Walker, David Wilmot, Stephen Ball, Mary Murray, Niamh Finlay, John Burke, Emer Casey, Graeme Coughlan, Abigail Coburn, Ava May Taylor, Janet Grene
  • Director: Sebastián Lelio
 Comments
  • averagedeveloper - 10 March 2024
    Those who like movies that deal with the relationship between human mind and reality should watch it.
    Movies about consciousness, mind, reality, and belief, if they are made properly, blow my mind. There are no direct dialogues about these in this movie. The characters do not convey to the audience what is intended to be conveyed in the film by telling each other. But with each character and with their different backgrounds, you see them experience the same reality in different ways. And that their perceived reality cannot exceed their beliefs.

    Although the movie explains this very well, the producer included scenes where she breaks the 4th wall to emphasize this more. In order to convey her message , she tried to include scenes in which he destroyed the reality of the film with our worlds reality. But I think it's more like jumping on stage and trying to convey the message to the audience by making hand and arm movements, as if she wasn't sure if she could convey the message properly. In the end, this is a movie and the audience's immersion is still important, and by doing this, you take the audience out of the flow.

    Also, this movie put Florence Pugh on my radar for the first time. This actress is very good at her job, and either she is very good at choosing the scripts that come her way, or she has a very high chance of which movie she finds herself in. After this movie, I never came across her in an average job.
  • cliew5473-107-917925 - 15 July 2023
    Slow but worth it...
    I really enjoyed this film -- more so than I expected to. Although, admittedly, I did go into it without any expectations. So I ended up being pleasantly surprised. Florence Pugh is one of my favorite actresses now, and she never seems to disappoint. The plot is a bit slow, but it builds over time and draws you in, to increasingly wonder what is really going on beneath the surface. The ending was satisfying but refreshingly unpredictable. I appreciate that the film deals with underlying themes of religion/faith and the indoctrination (brainwashing) of children into one's own beliefs, etc. This film does require patience. As long as you have that, it should not disappoint.