Mona Fastvold’s “The World to Come” is a sapphic romance that, quite painstakingly, tries to not veer towards melodrama. Vanessa Kirby (Tally) and Katherine Waterston (Abigail) give performances that aren’t showy, but exude a world of emotions — this is a film that heavily focuses on stares and unsaid words. It is semi-successful as a drama because it avoids the trappings of the usual yearn-filled romance by deliberately underplaying its emotions. From the first frame to last, it slightly breezes past you with the feel of a poetic short story. There are no good or bad people in Fastvold’s film, just life itself. The respective male partners are flawed, but their actions are understandable, although one can make the case that Christopher Abbott, playing Kirby’s downtrodden husband, steps out of bounds numerous times – Fastvold only hints at it, again, never showing anything our narrator isn’t seeing. It’s a purposely benign film, understandably so as it is told through the eyes of Abigail, a woman so dissatisfied by her marriage with hardworking, but depressed Dyer (Casey Affleck) that she would rather shut off all reality and just imagine a non-existent life with Tally. SCORE: C+ Contribute Hire me
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