A family of grieving women is thrown once more into chaos when the eldest daughter refuses to eat, saying she must do so by divine decree.
When it gets down to it, demonic haunting bears striking similarities to divine possession. So who gets canonized and who receives an exorcism? “A Banquet,” the first feature film from the director Ruth Paxton, smartly asks audiences to consider the overlaps between reality and fantasy, psychosis and evangelism.
The film follows the Hughes family, Holly (Sienna Guillory) and her daughters Betsey (Jessica Alexander) and Isabelle (Ruby Stokes), in the wake of their patriarch’s suicide. Betsey has a mysterious encounter in the forest that leaves her lethargic and unable to eat, but she insists it’s not a mental disorder, and that the starvation does not hurt her. She says she has been chosen for a higher purpose. As her mother, Holly must decide whether to enable Betsey’s newfound dogma or institutionalize her.
It’s a pretty grueling watch. There are clear parallels to be drawn between the Hughes’ dynamic and that of a family afflicted by addiction or debilitating mental illness; and Guillory, Alexander and Stokes ground the story with wrenching performances.
The film’s slow-burn magic lies in the many questions it raises as it skitters to a fitful, explosive end. Where other tales of divine female possession, like Rose Glass’s chilling “Saint Maud,” might cast their prophets as either blessed or delusional, “A Banquet” favors ambiguity. You’re likely to leave this film starving for answers, but that hunger can be just as stimulating as it is burdensome.
A Banquet
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 37 minutes. In theaters and available to rent or buy on Apple TV, Google Play and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators.
Source: Movies - nytimes.com
