✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

You have reached the limit of free articles.


To enjoy unlimited access to Culture Whisper sign up for FREE.
Find out more about Culture Whisper

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy

Each week, we send newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.

Occasional information about discounts, special offers and promotions.


OR
LOG IN

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

Thanks for signing up to Culture Whisper.
Please check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link to verify your account.



EXPLORE CULTURE WHISPER
✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy
Forgot your username or password?
Don't have an account? Sign Up

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

If you click «Log in with Facebook» and are not a Culture Whisper user, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy, which includes our Cookie Use

Support Us Login
  • Home
  • Going Out
    • Things to do
    • Food & Drink
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
    • Cinema
    • Kids
    • Festival
    • Gigs
    • Dance
    • Classical Music
    • Opera
    • Immersive
    • Talks
  • Staying In
    • TV
    • Books
    • Cook
    • Podcast
    • Design
    • Netflix
  • Life & Style
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Gifting
    • Wellbeing
    • Lifestyle
    • Shopping
    • Jewellery
  • Explore
  • Shopping
  • CW SHOPS
  • Support Us
  • Get Started
  • Tickets
  • CW SHOPS
Get the Best of London Life, Culture and Style
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
Cinema

Daphne film review ★★★★★

29 Sep 17 – 07 Feb 19, Times Vary

Set in London, Daphne is a brilliant examination of big city loneliness centred on its whip-smart tragicomic title character, played impeccably by Emily Beecham

By Daniel J Lewis on 29/9/2017

Daphne film review
Daphne film review
Daphne film review 4 Daphne film review Daniel Lewis
In another film, Daphne could almost be cool. She works in the kitchen of a hip local restaurant where she casually flirts with her boss (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor) about cheese and their palates.


On the weekends (and some work nights), she chuckles through bleak philosophy (think Slavoj Žižek), meticulously prepares meals she doesn’t bother to finish, and bounces around from bar to bar before wrapping up with a one-night stand. And she has some pretty good pre-prepared Freud quotes which explain why there won’t be a second night.



Yes, she could almost be cool – if she weren’t already into her thirties or completely joyless. It’s obvious, from the late-night corner shop visits and takeaways that supplement this routine, that Daphne’s wit, biting cynicism, and light-and-breezy persona is a fairly fragile front for a yawning emptiness.


The film’s forlorn version of London makes that emptiness starkly clear, with shots that recall an Edward Hopper painting or Antonioni at his most devastating. It’s not 28 Days Later levels of desertion – the buses, cabs and all that jazz are still there – but when Daphne wanders through markets or staggers on street corners, it looks like half of the city has gone on holiday. The lights are on but no one’s home.


It’s only after she becomes a witness to a pretty horrific crime in her neighbourhood – and embarks on a tentative relationship with a bouncer (a memorable Nathaniel Martello-White) – that she begins to address her (lack of) emotional life.


However, the transformation isn’t immediate or even obvious, which is much to the film’s credit. Daphne has had a lifetime of deflection – ‘master of the old duck and dive’, she calls herself in one her less-than-successful therapy sessions – and it’s hard work to unlearn those tricks.



The lack of direction may irk some viewers but Emily Beecham (Hail, Caesar!) is flawless in revealing the little chinks in Daphne’s armour and in showing us the way her walls slowly begin to come down. The thawing of her relationship with her mother, played spotlessly by Geraldine James, is particularly effective.


Putting one character under the microscope can just make them seem like an odd specimen but Beecham makes her character not only likeable but recognisable. She could be any number of those people next to you the Tube.


Daphne is by turns amusing and brutal, but it’s ultimately uplifting stuff. If, as the articles say, there is an epidemic of loneliness sweeping through London, Daphne has definitely caught the bug. But at least there's a chance to get rid of it.


What Daphne film review
Where Various Locations | MAP
When 29 Sep 17 – 07 Feb 19, Times Vary
Price £ determined by cinema
Website Click here for more information



Most popular

Best London Exhibition to see now
Top exhibitions on now in London
Things to do in London this weekend: 9–11 June
Things to do in London this weekend: 9–11 June
Irene Maiorino and Alba Rohrwacher in My Brilliant Friend season 4, HBO/Sky Atlantic (Photo: HBO)
My Brilliant Friend, season 4, Sky Atlantic: first-look photo, release date, plot, cast

Editor's Picks

BFI London Film Festival 2017
The BFI London Film Festival 2017: tickets to book before they sell out
Eddie Izzard interview
Eddie Izzard interview
The Emoji Movie
Helen Mirren, no!
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).

Cinema

Drama

Comedy

You might like

  • Home Again film

    Home Again film review ★★★★★

  • In Between film

    In Between film review ★★★★★

  • Final Portrait film review

    Final Portrait ★★★★★

  • Logan Lucky film - Channing Tatum, Riley Keough, Adam Driver

    Logan Lucky film review ★★★★★

  • The Big Sick film trailer

    The Big Sick film review ★★★★★

  • Toni Erdmann film 2017

    Toni Erdmann film review ★★★★★



  • The Culture Whisper team
  • Support Us
  • Tickets
  • Contact us
  • Press
  • FAQ
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Discover
  • Venues
  • Restaurants
  • Stations
  • Boroughs
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
×