Set on the bleak, beautiful island of Tresco, Joanna Hogg’s Archipelago details the psychological disharmony of a holidaying family. Edward, a likeable Rupert Bear type played by Tom Hiddleston, is upping sticks for a humanitarian year in Africa and is returning to a holiday home with his mother and sister – plus a cook – for a send-off.
Hogg is a masterful, subtle film-maker, slowly revealing faultlines in the group. Edward’s sister Cynthia (Lydia Leonard) is full of barbed comments and frustration, while the absence of the family’s father adds to a pervasive sense of resentment. Amid the occasionally poisonous atmosphere, though, some rather sweet new bonds are forged.
The film is magnificent: naturalistic, sad and aching with the unspoken – but warm and often hysterically funny, too, particularly in a typically English, comedy-of-manners restaurant scene.
In her brief post-screening Q&A, Hogg seemed mildly bemused by suggestions she had anything in common with Mike Leigh, or that gender politics or class had any influence over the film. Instead, she revealed the influence of Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot and her own family experiences.
She was also illuminating on her technique (no rehearsals, the excitement of working with non-actors) and the “rhythm” of the music-free soundtrack. It was a shame she wasn’t able to discuss it for longer.
Five stars
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