Jennifer Connelly and Ben Whishaw star in this blackly comic debut about a former child star who attends a spiritual retreat in search of enlightenment and filial reconciliation.

Oregon’s Loveland Ranch promises its guests spiritual healing under the guidance of guru Elon Bello. Self-absorbed Lucy, who had acting success when she was younger, submits herself to the semi-silent environment as a welcome change from her professional troubles – and from her difficulties with her daughter, Dylan, a stunt performer working in New Zealand. Off-grid at the ranch at the foot of Mount Hypnos, Lucy hopes she’ll find the peace, sympathy and validation she’s paid good money for. Unfortunately for her, so do all the other egocentric attendees.

Engaging and witty performances from Connelly (Noah; Requiem for a Dream) and Whishaw (who also stars in Passages, MIFF 2023) drive this whip-smart feature debut, which premiered at Sundance this year. Working from her own screenplay, actor-turned-director Alice Englert (You Won’t Be Alone, MIFF 2022; Top of the Lake: China Girl, MIFF 2017) reveals serious technical skill behind the camera, tempering moments of absurd satire with sincerity about the intentions of participants in the so-called enlightenment industry. Englert also shines as nonchalant Dylan, while Dasha Nekrasova (The Scary of Sixty-First, MIFF 2021) is hilariously hateable as the vapid supermodel who joins the retreat.

“Connelly is magnificent in Englert’s gleefully cynical feature debut … Strange, savage, and oddly beautiful.” – The Playlist

———
Director Alice Englert will be in attendance for the screenings on Wednesday 16 and Friday 18 August.