“The Ballad of Wallis Island” is both modest and magical. One of its co-stars, Carey Mulligan, has described its tone as a “gentle euphoria.” That phrase perfectly expresses how this wonderful movie – directed by James Griffiths from a script by Tom Basden and Tim Key – transports us.
Basden plays Herb McGwyer, a British pop rock star who has accepted a high-paying solo gig on a remote island off the coast of England. He is there at the behest of Charles Heath (Key), a local inhabitant and Herb’s self-described biggest fan. Charles’ ardor also applies to Herb’s former musical and romantic partner, Nell Mortimer (Mulligan). Before Herb went off on his own 10 years ago and rancorously broke up the duo, they were a popular indie folk team.
Charles wants to reunite them. Unbeknownst to Herb, he has also invited Nell onto the island for the gig. Accompanied by her caustic husband, Michael (Akemnji Ndifornyen), who spends most of the movie bird-watching off-screen, Nell initially accepts the setup for what it is. She has retired from the music scene, makes and sells her own chutney, and needs the money.
Why We Wrote This
The Monitor’s film critic offers his highest rating to “The Ballad of Wallis Island,” which pulses with humor as it explores the landscape of nostalgia – and love.
Herb, already on edge after discovering the gig is intended solely as a private concert for Charles, is far less compliant. He still loves Nell, or thinks he does. She sets him straight: “You love the past and it’s all gone.” He went on to major commercial success after he and Nell split, but he knows his artistry with her was at its purest.
And who is this mysterious Charles? A widower of five years, he resides in a historic home on the sparsely populated island. He owes his largesse to having won a national lottery – twice. Prone to bad puns, he’s supremely affable and unflappable. What makes him such a figure of warmhearted whimsy is that he genuinely loves the music Herb and Nell made. He may have a trunkful of their records and memorabilia, even a purported lock of Nell’s hair that he bought on the internet, but he doesn’t come across as creepy. That’s because for him, their music represents a way of summoning both the good times in his past and the promise of good times to come.
Basden, who also wrote the plaintive songs that Herb and Nell play together in the film, has an extensive career in British television and theater. As does Key, with whom he has often partnered. “The Ballad of Wallis Island” is actually based on a short film they made in 2007, also directed by Griffiths. The intervening years likely deepened the material from a sketch comedy to something far richer. Its pervasive humor flows from an intimate observation of human folly.
When Herb and Nell play together, their music-making unites their souls, if not their hearts. Charles, hearing them, recognizes that their fervent communion can’t be faked. He wonders why they can’t get back together as a team, for their own benefit as well as his own. But the filmmakers are well aware that life doesn’t work that way.
This realization comes through most powerfully in the performances. As Nell, Mulligan, who has never been better, is wised-up without being cynical. She accepts without a boatload of bitterness where time has taken her. Basden could have slicked up his acting with a lot of pompous pop star clichés. Instead, he gets at the regret, as well as the comedy, beneath Herb’s tantrums and frustrations. We grasp the innocence that still resides within him.
Key lets us see the wonderment within Charles’ oddball charm. We grasp how his constant prattling is a lonely man’s way of entertaining himself. His bashful yen for Amanda (Sian Clifford), a kindly, smiley local shopkeeper, is poetically perfect because she is so like him – off-center and unfeigned.
Near the end, Herb rails at Charles for reuniting him with Nell. “You ruined my life,” he yells. But we know better, and, finally, so does Herb. He comes to terms with his past, with his true artistry, and the honesty of that understanding sets him aglow.
Peter Rainer is the Monitor’s film critic. “The Ballad of Wallis Island” opens Friday. It is rated PG-13 for some language and smoking.
