The Wonder

R

Released Nov 2, 2022

1 hr. 48 min.

Mystery & Thriller

Drama

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List

85%

172 Reviews

Tomatometer

72%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

The Irish Midlands, 1862 -- a young girl stops eating but remains miraculously alive and well. English nurse Lib Wright is brought to a tiny village to observe eleven-year old Anna O'Donnell. Tourists and pilgrims mass to witness the girl who is said to have survived without food for months. Is the village harboring a saint 'surviving on manna from heaven' or are there more ominous motives at work? A psychological thriller inspired by the 19th century phenomenon of the "fasting girls" and adapted from the acclaimed novel by Emma Donoghue (Room).

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Critics Consensus

The atmosphere's absorbing and the story is fascinating, but The Wonder of this period drama really lies in Florence Pugh's remarkable performance.

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Audience Consensus

Although the movie is slow and contains some questionable storytelling choices, Florence Pugh makes it hard to look away from The Wonder.

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Matthew S

Florence Pugh made this film special. The stroy was very interesting and kept you wondering. Film felt like it could be shorter.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/29/24

Full Review

Alec B

I'm not convinced that the fourth wall breaking works at all but it's a small part of the movie which is mostly effective at selling its conflict between faith and reason.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/26/24

Full Review

elana k

The run time feels longer than it really is (the somber mood was a bit sleep inducing), but even when I drifted off and missed a few moments here and there, Florence Pugh was still there, keeping it all together until the end. Nothing about the narrative feels familiar even if the themes may be. But I must add: completely unnecessary meta- references to the film in the opening and closing scenes- it really does nothing, in fact it took away from immersive like quality of the film, but that seems to be the style these days. The thought-provoking ending was satisfying enough for it to warrant such a high score from me.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

04/22/24

Full Review

Karine F

I read the book and was excited to see the movie to fill in some missing details, but the movie not only is way different from the original book, it's also terrible. The book doesn't have this dark narrative. Also, Anna is the sweetest girl, and the relationship between William and Lib is more complex than depicted in the movie. The story moves so fast that we don't get the chance to know Lib or Anna properly. Many invented scenes, such as William supposedly having lived in the village, Lib forbidding the parents from seeing the girl (when, in fact, it was Anna who wanted her space from her mother), and the force-feeding (in the book, Lib explains why she wouldn't do it), felt unnecessary. And what's up with those bizarre scenes of Lib almost having orgasms while drinking her own blood? That was totally fabricated. They changed so many facts and the characters themselves… I understand that some adaptations are needed for the screen, but they made it so terrible that I'm glad I read the book first; otherwise, I would have had a completely wrong idea about the story.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/18/24

Full Review

Marie C

Very poor. Strongly recommend to not bother wasting your time watching. Everyone who said otherwise is simply lying to themselves and you. The underwhelming end matched the prolonged film. So many unanswered questions.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/07/24

Full Review

Jason R

I've heard this is good and I've yet to see anything that hasn't been improved by the presence of Florence Pugh, so I'm quite looking forward to it - although I doubt I'd have got round to watching it under any other circumstances. It starts very interestingly for a film set in rural Ireland in the 1800s - we're panning round a very modern space, which it soon becomes clear is a sound stage because the inside of an old Irish cottage comes into view which makes for a stark contrast. And I suspect the message we're supposed to take from this is that nothing is what it initially seems - but let's see shall we. We then start on the story with a nurse, Elizabeth Wright (Florence Pugh) who has been called over to Ireland to watch an 11 year old, Anna O'Connell (Kíla Lord Cassidy) who allegedly hasn't eaten in four months, with a view to establishing the truth of the situation. Obviously, Elizabeth doesn't believe any miracle is occurring but Anna seems guileless and there's no obvious cheating going on. The other person on the watch is a nun who obviously has different motivations and beliefs and additionally there are factions in the village who like the interest that Anna brings and others who would like the whole thing to go away. And, of course, as time goes on it becomes clear that Elizabeth doesn't have the straightforward backstory that would make her job much easier for her - and no, I'm not going to give you any clues as to what was going on. The film makes some interesting points on being confronted by things you don't or can't believe in and how you might react. It's also intriguing as to how it's going to end - it does a good job of ensuring that enough progress is made to keep you engaged and guessing. And when things become clearer as what's going on, there's some very effective psychological horror elements introduced which had me quite spellbound (and appalled) - and raised some interesting points on being confronted by things you understand but can't accept. But, to its credit and my surprise, the film finds a way to resolve the story in a very pleasing manner - I really liked the way things panned out. Florence is, as expected, excellent in this - she gets to do some full-on acting, displaying proper emotions and everything. And Kila more than holds her own against her - it's not her acting debut but I suspect it's a bit of step up from what she's previously done. Tom Burke does a good enough job when making his third appearance on the list this year - a fine effort by the lad, although you'd struggle to say he was massively central to any of them. I also thought Niamh Algar did a good job as Anna's mum - I knew I recognised her from somewhere but had to use Wikipedia to remind myself she was in Censor. There's also a fine selection of older male actors on the committee organising the watch who are Toby Jones, Ciaran Hinds, Dermot Crowley, Brian O'Byrne and David Wilmot - all of whom you recognise their faces without necessarily recognising their names. It is, without a doubt, a film set in rural Ireland - they do a good job in making it realistic enough to convince me it was accurate (lots of religious iconography and poverty, some digging for peat, etc). There's obviously plenty of gorgeous scenery to work with and both the internal and external shots are all very well set-up and lit - the film has a very studied artistic feel to it (I was reminded of Portrait Of A Woman On Fire, although the subject matter is very different). All in all, there's a lot to admire here so I'm going to give the director Sebastián Lelio a name check - I'm sure that's going to make his day! I really liked this - it felt like a proper grown-up film which has been made with full consideration to both the aesthetic and plot, with it looking beautiful and coming to a very satisfying conclusion despite the high-concept central idea. And it's also well acted and poses some interesting questions - exactly what a film should be imho. It's a strong recommendation from me for a film you may well have missed so go and check it out - at time of writing it's available to stream on both Netflix and Sky and to rent in all the usual locations.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

11/29/23

Full Review

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Sebastián Lelio

Director

Florence Pugh

Lib Wright

Tom Burke

Actor

Niamh Algar

Actor

Elaine Cassidy

Actor

Kíla Lord Cassidy

Anna O'Donnell

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The Wonder: Trailer 1

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Sophie Gilbert

The Atlantic

The blessing of The Wonder is how it acknowledges the things we most want to believe and still proposes, in the end, that human acts and faith in others can be the most miraculous things of all.

Dec 1, 2022

Full Review

Pippa Bailey

New Statesman

The Wonder is entirely fresh -- and equally brilliant.

Nov 23, 2022

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Dwight Brown

DwightBrownInk.com

A compelling drama shorn down to its essentials, both visually and emotionally.

Nov 22, 2022

Full Review

Maxance Vincent

InSession Film

The Wonder doesn’t instill “wonder,” nor enjoyment.

Rated: C+

Mar 6, 2024

Full Review

Prabhjot Bains

Tilt Magazine

Much like the movie sets it depicts in its meta opening, The Wonder is similarly just an empty framework — narrative scaffolding that is never given life and a central purpose by its abridged storytelling.

Nov 2, 2023

Full Review

Mini Anthikad-Chhibber

The Hindu

Based on Emma Donoghue’s eponymous book, The Wonder is a beautiful yet disturbing psychological thriller with a stellar performance by Florence Pugh.

Oct 4, 2023

Full Review

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Synopsis

The Irish Midlands, 1862 -- a young girl stops eating but remains miraculously alive and well. English nurse Lib Wright is brought to a tiny village to observe eleven-year old Anna O'Donnell. Tourists and pilgrims mass to witness the girl who is said to have survived without food for months. Is the village harboring a saint 'surviving on manna from heaven' or are there more ominous motives at work? A psychological thriller inspired by the 19th century phenomenon of the "fasting girls" and adapted from the acclaimed novel by Emma Donoghue (Room).

Director: Sebastián Lelio
Executive Producer: Emma Donoghue, Len Blavatnik, Danny Cohen
Screenwriter: Alice Birch, Sebastián Lelio
Distributor: Netflix
Production Co: Element Pictures, Screen Ireland, House Productions
Rating: R
Genre: Mystery & Thriller, Drama
Original Language: English (United Kingdom)
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 2, 2022, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 16, 2022
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital

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