The World to Come – Movie Review
Director: Mona Fastvold
Writer: Ron Hansen, Jim Shepard (Screenplay)
Cast
- Katherine Waterston (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them)
- Vanessa Kirby (Hobbs and Shaw)
- Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea)
- Christopher Abbott (The Possessor)
- Karina Ziana Gherasim
Plot: Somewhere along the mid-19th century American East Coast frontier, two neighbouring couples battle hardship and isolation, witnessed by a splendid yet testing landscape, challenging them both physically and psychologically.
Runtime: 1 Hour 45 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: The World to Come starts as we meet the two couples Abigail (Waterston) and Dyer (Affleck) and Tallie (Kirby) and Finney (Abbott). The two couples are neighbouring on the Frontier East Coast. Abigail and Tallie start getting closer to the loneliness of their world. The pair start exploring their romantic interest in each other.
As the women start their forbidden relationship, their relationship back home starts getting strained as their husbands don’t like them having close friendships.
Verdict on The World to Come
The World to Come is a romantic drama that follows two lonely housewives in a frontier-era America. Who get romantically involved, creating problems for their husbands who are equally as lonely.
The story is told in a diary format, with Abigail remembering her encounters with Tallie and the risks the pair would start taking. It ends up feeling like most forbidden love stories, which doesn’t make it stand out in any way.
The performances are strong from Katherine Waterston and Vanessa Kirby. It is the story that holds most of the film back, as it doesn’t feel very engaging and has slow pacing.
Final Thoughts – The World to Come is the standard forbidden love story.