Vanessa Kirby follows up her powerhouse performance in “Pieces of a Woman” with another awards contender. The winner of the Queer Lion at last year’s Venice Film Festival, Mona Fastvold’s “The World to Come” is set in the 19th century in the American Northeast and follows Abigail (Katherine Waterston), a soft-spoken farmer’s wife, and Tallie (Kirby), her outgoing new neighbor. The former is grieving the loss of a child along with her husband (Casey Affleck) and the latter is struggling to maintain some independence living under the same roof as her controlling and jealous husband (Christopher Abbott).
“It’s been my experience that it’s not always those who show the least who actually feel the least,” says Tallie. Abigail says little, but her diary entries reveal that she’s a talented writer who feels plenty.
Both women dream of living different lives. After bonding over their shared discontent, Tallie and Abigail discover they also share a mutual attraction. “The World to Come” is their captivating love story.
When we asked Fastvold, who made her feature directorial debut with 2014’s “The Sleepwalker,” what she wants audiences to think about after watching “The World to Come,” she said, “Were it not for characters such as these two women, a woman like myself may not have had the opportunity to tell this story or make this film. That was on my mind. Their expedition into the unknown is allegoric of the travails of women past and present.”
“The World to Come” arrives in theaters February 12 and hits digital March 2.
