Under the direction of Sebastián Lelio, Florence Pugh sublimates “The Wonder”, an atmospheric and relevant thriller on a phenomenon that really existed. Meeting with the director.
When Lib, a young English nurse, is called to Ireland to observe an 11-year-old girl, she does not yet know what awaits her. On the spot, she hears of a “wonder”, of a “miracle”. His patient, however, resembles all children of his age. It is not so. For four months, she claims to survive without eating.
This enigma is the starting point for The Wonder, the eighth film by Chilean Sebastián Lelio – Oscar winner in 2018 for A Fantastic Woman, a drama that tackles the theme of transidentity.
It is in a completely different genre that the director pursues his trajectory. This time he signs a brilliant thriller, imbued with mystery and wonderfully carried by its main actress, Florence Pugh.
With this story, the filmmaker adapts the eponymous novel by Emma Donoghue – author of Room, also transposed to the cinema in 2015. He is above all interested in a phenomenon that really existed: the fast girls – in French, girls who fast.
netflix Sebastián Lelio and Florence Pugh on the set of “The Wonder”.
During the Victorian era, these teenage girls claimed to be chosen by God and invested with a mission. Driven by a sudden notoriety, their family saw it as a way to earn money. The curious rushed to the bedside of the “elected” and each visit was monetized.
At the heart of the film, this supposed anomaly is all the more disturbing as it occurs a few years after the Great Irish Famine which caused one million deaths between 1845 and 1852.
This subject fascinates Sebastián Lelio: “There has always been a very special connection between sacrifice and mysticism over the centuries. I grew up in Chile, which is a very Catholic country, and I was unconsciously immersed in these ideas. But I didn’t know anything about this phenomenon which seemed unique to me.”
Our whole lives are made up of stories.
In The Wonder, two worlds collide: science and religion. The rational mind of the nurse collides with the convictions of an isolated community. “I wanted to make a film about the danger of fanaticism at a time when reason is colliding with various beliefs”, explains the director.
Like an investigator at a crime scene, the heroine must detect and understand the truth. To achieve this, a whole system must be deconstructed. By opposing faith to Cartesian thought, Sebastián Lelio also questions the power of fiction, right from his opening shot where he breaks the fourth wall.
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Tom Burke, Kila Lord Cassidy and Florence Pugh in “The Wonder”.
“Our whole lives are made of storieshe says. Our world is a story we collectively believe in, just like democracy or money. And today, in the age of the Internet and Twitter, each of us is becoming a storyteller..”
While the film is set in the 19th century, its message echoes current concerns, such as the spread of misinformation and conspiracy theories.
“On social networks, groups are forming and multiplying in astronomical numbershe points out. It only takes one person to say that the Earth is square for it to be read and followed by three million followers in the blink of an eye..”
With subtlety and intelligence, The Wonder warns viewers about these excesses. “If fiction inhabits our world and runs through our lives, what stories do we choose to believe?asks Sebastian Lelio. And above all, the most important question: will we be able to find the truth?”
Interview by Thomas Desroches, in Paris, October 16, 2022.
The Wonder is available on Netflix.