"Magpie" is coiled with violent feelings churning underneath a slick surface. There are lots of reflective surfaces, turning rooms into psychological headspaces: glass walls, beveled three-way mirror, mirrors everywhere. Sam Yates is a British theatre director whose productions, including the celebrated VANYA with Andrew Scott, have generated multiple Olivier awards. "Magpie," based on an original story by lead actress and producer Daisy Ridley and written by Tom Bateman, is his film debut. In its style, "Magpie" is a marital thriller with noir trappings galore, including an almost ridiculously convoluted (yet satisfying) conclusion. Still, it's most effective as the study of an angry wife's chaotic psychological state.
You can tell the marriage is in trouble by their hairstyles. The schlubby Ben (Shazad Latif) wears a man-bun and Annette has chopped off her hair. As everyone knows, manbun + short hair = angst. The couple moved from London to the country when Annette got pregnant. Ben is a writer, whose last book didn't sell well and is described by Annette as "dense". (It sounds like a drag.) Annette was working in publishing but not very high up the food chain, judging by her begging, eager-to-please attitude when meeting with her old boss. They live in the type of country house only inhabited by troubled married couples in melodrama-thrillers. It's huge and modern, with immaculate interior decoration. Their combined salaries could in no way pay for this home (particularly since she's not bringing in any money). But "Magpie" is a sort-of thriller, so an unrealistic house is part of the game.
We meet Ben and Annette as things careen downhill. The move to the country had seemed like a good idea. He'd have peace to write; she could focus on being a mum. But it didn't turn out that way. Annette is stir-crazy and feels stifled and ignored. Their daughter Tillie (Hiba Ahmed) is around five years old, and they also have a newborn son named Lucas. Ben is supposedly writing his next book, but—except for an 8-month research trip, which was taken right after Annette gave birth to Tillie—he doesn't do much actual writing. When Tillie is cast in a movie starring an alluring Italian actress named Alicia (Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz), Ben is so taken up with his new life hanging out on a movie set that he barely notices his wife's descent into something akin to madness.
But there's more, of course. After a few conversations with Alicia, Ben gets lost in a fantasy of a relationship with her (and is pathetically flattered by the tabloids labeling him her new "mystery man"). Annette is stuck at home with a screaming newborn. Before you know it, Ben is sneaking off to masturbate in the shower as Alicia seethes outside the door. It's hard to tell who is more obsessed with Alicia, Ben or Annette.
Yates has a lot of fun with all this, and the cast is all tuned in to the subtleties of the emotional situation despite the broad strokes of the plot. Annette's fracturing psyche is the center of the whirlwind of activity, transforming her from a confident woman to a shell of herself, eaten up with rage so incandescent that she appears to crack a mirror just by leaning against it. A bird flies into the glass window, terrifying the jittery Annette. There are moments where "Magpie" feels uncanny, almost as though Annette's emotions are so volatile she might have telekinesis. The tone of the film suggests it could go that way.
There's a larger point at work here, and it is the film's real engine. When Ben left Annette alone for almost a full year after the birth of Tillie to write his dull, dense book, it's an unforgivable abandonment. Prehistoric man knew women needed protection in the vulnerable period after giving birth. Ben, a self-satisfied "modern" man, makes her fend for herself. She's never forgiven him and has never been the same. Ridley understands these deeper points, and one can imagine that for her, it's the only point. Annette starts to perceive how Ben treats her like a child, scolding her when she gets too emotional or loud.
Perhaps the most brutally insightful moment comes in almost a throwaway exchange. Annette takes Tillie to the movie set one day, and Ben spends his day wandering around the house, staring at his phone, fantasizing about Alicia. When Annette returns, she asks Sam, "What have you done with your day?" Irritated, he says, "I was with Lucas. Nothing."
Nothing. To Ben, taking care of his son means he has done "nothing" with his day. Sam thinks he's a good guy and a caring husband and thinks he's enlightened and aware. Guys like Ben are the ones you need to steer clear of. Especially if they have a man-bun.
