Lynne Ramsay’s “Morvern Callar”

Morvern Callar (2002)

Absorbing and atmospheric character study led by a stunning performance from Samantha Morton is masterful visual storytelling which cuts deep

Based on the novel of the same name by Alan Warner with a screenplay from Liana Dognini and Lynne Ramsay, this is a cinematic masterpiece. Telling the story of the titular character Morvern(Samantha Morton), it opens on Christmas where she is confronted with a life-changing event in her small seaside town in Scotland sending her on an odyssey of self discovery.

Two things send this film into the stratosphere for me. First, Samantha Morton’s performance is stunning, subtle, surprising but believable and it carries the weight of the story. This is all the more incredible because the second element that I loved in this film is the visual storytelling which is grounded yet dreamy and impressionistic. Because of this, Morton is performing much of the time without dialogue and the combination is electrifying.

Details in the film made me think of elements of Tarkovksy’s Stalker and visuals from David Lynch’s work. Going the other way, it reminded me of recent films which took inspiration from Morvern Callar such as the excellent Aftersun which has happily not been overlooked as this film has been.

If you enjoyed Lynne Ramsay’s other work such as You Were Never Really Here, Ratcatcher, or We Need to Talk About Kevin or you’re open to an absorbing and atmospheric character study that cuts deep, this is definitely worth checking out.