010—Magpie
A woman’s righteous rage and frustration takes center stage
If you spend any time on the internet you’re bound to come across an Am I the Asshole (AITA) or an Am I Overreacting (AIO) post or screenshot of one. Both subreddits are filled with people in shitty, loveless, and abusive relationships reaching out to the collective for objective opinions about a specific or ongoing situation. Most, or at least the ones I tend to see, are from women in heterosexual relationships or marriages who go into specific detail about how they’re being neglected, gaslit, undervalued, undermined, seen as an object that exists to cater, and/or treated as a servant only to conclude with doubt and a question of whether, they, perhaps are the baddie.
Maddening! and from the outside looking in, it’s easy to have that perspective. For the women inside such a situation, as is the case for Annette (Daisy Ridley) in Magpie, that clarity has been turned down to a simmer, barely breaking the surface but still capable of bubbling over given the right circumstances.
Here is how I imagine Annette’s AITA post would go:
AITA for asking my husband for a bit of help?
My (38F) husband (42 M) and I just had our second kid and it’s been a rough transition going from one to two. We used to live in town, but my husband wanted to prioritize his writing career (he’s published a a books, but no fanfare yet) and he said he needed minimal distractions so now we live in the country an hour away from the closest town.It’s pretty isolating, but I try to make the best of it. I really love being a mom, but sometimes I feel so frustrated. My husband says it’s only fair for me to do all of the cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, childcare, and household emotional labor because being in a marriage means compromise and his career is really important.
A few times I’ve arranged for a babysitter so I can go catch up with an old colleague, but my husband cancels the babysitter last minute. When I ask him why, he says it’s not that big of a deal and that I’m just being dramatic. Right after the baby was born, he went on an 8-month research trip for his latest book with his research assistant (22F) and I had to beg him to call home. Recently he’s been saying that I need to go on medication to stop being such a bitch to him all the time.
So Reddit, AITA and a huge bitch for asking my husband to consider me as his partner and figure out a way to split things equally???
The mock post above is more or less established across the opening scenes in Magpie. We learn that Annette is a happily doting mother to her two kids, Matilda and Lucas, and helpmate to her husband Ben (Shazad Latif). Things are already so-so at home when Matilda lands her first movie role, acting as daughter of the lead, a celebrity known as Alicia (Matilda Lutz, who also stars in Coralie Fargeat’s badass film, Revenge). Ben, because he is primarily a loser who wants to feel important, self-delegates as the one to take Matilda to set each day.
His writing career is secondary to using the cultural cachet of being a writer as a door opener. He’s a mediocre man, with delusions of grandeur and an ego to match which naturally means he immediately thinks Alicia is into him after she politely mentions being familiar with his work.
Shazad Latif is so convincing in his role, and pulls off smug and repulsive with ease. He’s the type of man who says he’s “baby sitting” his own kids, who blames his child’s honesty for his own shortcomings, and who never stops to question whether his wife’s unraveling could have anything to do with his actions. He’s having a great, frictionless experience, built off a system that benefits him; meanwhile, Annette vibrates so hard with frustration she cracks a mirror. Daisy Ridley was incredible in this role, and her character’s mistreatment was so tangible due to her acting that I myself found myself intensely frustrated aka thinking “Divorce!” or “he needs to suffer” at consistent intervals.
As Ben goes to set each day, he tries to connect with Alicia and leaps at the chance to spend time together. It’s when Annette catches wind of this minor dalliance that things kick into high gear and get really fun. As the film progresses, tension builds between Annette, Ben, and Alicia and it’s clear that we’re building to a boiling point.
What the viewer gets is a twist that’s not only electric but satisfying. I can’t say much more without spoiling a huge plot point, but I will say it’s lovely to watch a man who dramatically tantrums things like, “You’re always making things so fucking dramatic,” get incredibly humbled.
Movies this is in conversation with
Other movies watched this week
Margin Call, You Were Never Really Here, The End we Start From, The Fall, Sweat, The Phoenician Scheme.