This November, acclaimed directorSebastián Lelio, known for films such asDisobedienceandA Fantastic Woman, returns with his latest project for Netflix. Led byFlorence Pugh,The Wonderbrings viewers into the relationship between a young girl and the nurse tasked to watch over her. Ahead of the release, Netflix has shared the official trailer.
With muted colors and a voiceover detailing a cryptic task, the trailer immediately signals to viewers that something is a bit off. It’s not until nearly one minute in that viewers, and Pugh’s character Nurse Lib Wright, are clued into the situation at hand. As the trailer continues, it offers a greater sense of the dynamic between Nurse Wright and her charge, 11-year-old Anna O’Donnell (Kíla Lord Cassidy). While Nurse Wright seems confident at first that she can help, Anna poses a much greater challenge than initially anticipated as her faith begins to clash with Nurse Wright’s more practical and science-minded approach. Near the end of the trailer, viewers also see that Anna isn’t Nurse Wright’s only challenge, as those who initially assigned the job seem to have lost faith in her abilities as well.
Based onEmma Donoghue’s novel of the same name,The Wondertakes a look at the 1800s phenomenon of theFasting Girls. It follows Nurse Wright, who’s tasked with watching over young Anna after the girl allegedly stopped eating after her 11th birthday, four months prior to when the events of the movie unfold. While the nurse is with Anna, she learns that the girl hasn’t eaten because she believes she lives off manna from Heaven, which keeps her plenty full – and she appears to be in good physical condition. Throughout her time with Anna, Nurse Wright must determine what’s really going on with the girl.
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The film made its initial debut at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival and was relatively well-received by critics. In his review, Collider’sChase Hutchinsonattributed some of the film’s intrigue to Pugh’s “dynamic performance” and the way in which she keeps viewers engaged with the film. He also ties the film’s eerie nature toMatthew Herbet’s score, “as it bounces back and forth between sounding like a ghostly whalesong to the tense ticking of a booming clock. It doesn’t hold back from letting this all wash over you, even as it feels like it may drown you in the cacophony of sound.”
The Wonderwas adapted by Lelio andAlice Birch. Donoghue,Len Blavatnik, andDanny Cohenexecutive produced.Tessa Ross,Juliette Howell,Ed Guiney, andAndrew Loweserved as producers. The film comes from House Productions and Element Pictures. Additional cast includesTom Burke,Niamh Algar,Elaine Cassidy,Toby Jones,Ciarán Hinds,Dermot Crowley,Brían F. O’Byrne, andDavid Wilmot.
The Wonderpremieres in select theaters on November 2, with a Netflix release slated for November 16. Check out the trailer below:
