Director: Lucy Brydon
Writer: Lucy Brydon (Screenplay)
Starring: Sian Brooke, Amanda Burton, Fabienne Piolini-Castle, Nick Blood, Kazia Pelka, Adeyinka Akinrinade
Plot: A woman with an eating disorder tries to balance her relationship with her mother and her teenage daughter.
Runtime: 1 Hour 35 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Body of Water starts when Stephanie (Brooke) is released from the medical facility where she was getting treatment for her eating disorder, just in time for her mother Susan (Burton) wedding. Returning to the world after the 7-months away proves to be difficult for Stephanie as her own 15-year-old daughter Pearl (Piolini-Castle) doesn’t want anything to do with her.
As Stephanie continues to struggle with her everyday life, she sees her daughter starting to spiral out of control, falling into the wrong crowds, drinks, drugs and older man, only adding to the pressure she has to try and contain what she needs to make it through each day.
Thoughts on Body of Water
Thoughts – Body of Water is a drama that is showing how difficult coping with an eating disorder can be for the patient and the family, showing how even everyday situations can be difficult to get through, but not having the support from the family can only add more pressure to the situation. Where this film does shine in seeing the struggle of the return, it does hold back a lot of what has caused the tension in the first place, where it does seem to show a bigger event would have caused this divide in the family. The performances in the film are outstanding with Sian Brooke being able to show the deepness of the troubles she is going through in every scene, even the happy moments. This is a film that is willing to show us the darker side of a family dealing with an eating disorder and never knowing how to deal with it, from each side of things, rather than just being able to say this is how we fix it. Showing it will end up being a lifelong battle that can only be fought with support.
Final Thoughts – Body of Water is a very powerful drama, showing the impact on lives that an unseen illness can bring.
