The Silent Storm – Film Review by Helen Major

Director: Corinna McFarlane
Writer: Corinna McFarlane
Stars: Andrea Riseborough, Damian Lewis, Ross Anderson

This debut film for London-born writer and director Corinna McFarlane is set on a remote island off the coast of Scotland in the mid-twentieth century. It centres on the local minister – played by Damian Lewis of Homeland fame – and his unusual wife, who live together in a very turbulent marriage. One day, the couple is asked to take in a seventeen year old delinquent boy from the mainland, whom the minister quickly finds a use for, while trying to teach him how to live a repentant, godly life. This new addition to their household forces the couple to face some unpleasant realities about their relationship, charted by this captivating drama-romance.

The Scottish landscape alone is enough to recommend this film. It features breath-taking lakes and ocean views, framed by ancient hills covered in lush greenery and story-book woodlands. Every external shot is like its own mini watercolour – which also speaks for the cinematography.

The soundtrack is just what you’d expect of a film about ecclesiastical, twentieth century Scotland. There are fiddles, there are acapella choirs, there’s even a bit of quality sean nós. It’s not surprising, but it is still quite beautiful all the same. In fact, that is how I would summarise the entire piece – unsurprising, but utterly beautiful.

Anyone with a reasonable familiarity with narrative structure would be able to predict the plot from early on, and it fills every Hollywood trope applicable. You have the only woman in the film portrayed as mysterious and beautiful, trapped in a traditional marriage, you have the misunderstood young man pigeon-holed by the prejudices of others, and you even have the fundamentalist preacher stuck in his ways.

However, the execution is so delicate and thoughtful that you don’t even mind. The essence of the characters may be clichéd, but they are fully fleshed out, and multi-dimensional. That, combined with some stellar performances, make for truly believable and endearing personalities that you really do get invested in. The relationships between them are also carefully managed, too. Nothing feels rushed or contrived. Even if you can predict major plot developments within the first half hour, it still somehow feels organic.

The story is dark, though not without its moments of light.  The pacing is spot on, making you hurt when you need to hurt, then lifting you up just in time to drop you farther than you’d been before. This is mostly down to the really solid script, and the natural dialogue that never lets up, though the direction also deserves credit for this. That said, not all the formal features were as smooth as this. Some of the scene transitions were a bit jarring, fading when a clean cut might have served better, and one or two of the shots could have lingered a little longer – though this is nit-picking at an otherwise splendid film.

If you want a classic-style film about love, and duty, and appreciating the world around you, then this beautifully shot, beautifully written, and beautifully judged piece of cinema is exactly what I would recommend.