Anemone Review: A Day-Lewis Family Affair

An overqualified cast and a beautiful look can’t lift Ronan Day-Lewis’ Anemone above its obvious script and direction.

A number of relationships are at work in Anemone, but at its core are two brothers. Jem (Sean Bean) journeys from his home in Sheffield to a sparse and barely habitable woodland. Deep amongst the trees lies an old cottage, with just enough comforts to house Jem’s brother, the reclusive Ray (Daniel Day-Lewis). The crux of the film’s publicity (and its whole reason for existing, if we’re being perfectly honest) is that it marks the elder Day-Lewis’ first role since Phantom Thread. The prospect of seeing the most acclaimed actor of his generation back onscreen is made even more enticing by his co-writing credit.

Day-Lewis has emerged from retirement to lend his full talents and star wattage to his son’s directorial debut, and the pair come up with what should be a compelling hook for the actor’s talents. As Jem arrives at Ray’s cottage, it soon becomes clear that some undisclosed secrets prevent them from enjoying a closer relationship.

The Day-Lewises create a fiery role for Day-Lewis Sr. in Ray, who we learn was a member of the Ulster Defence Force in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. This marks Anemone as a rare example of a film about the Troubles told from the English point of view. However, it doesn’t lead to any kind of probing of the conflict. Any potential criticisms of British policy or actions in the region are sidestepped in favour of a narrower focus, centred on Ray’s PTSD and abusive father figures.

The nub of the drama is what kind of father figure Ray could be to his own son. Brian (Samuel Bottomley) is being raised by Jem and his wife Nessa (Samantha Morton), but he’s threatening to go off the rails in the throes of depression, much like his absent father. There’s potential on the page, but the relationships in Anemone are too steeped in cliché to truly engage. Ray was beaten when young, and Brian resents his father for abandoning him, but that’s about as deep as their development gets. For all the parental drama here, the father and son writing the script are reluctant to dig deeper into character motivations. Everyone is a victim rather than an active agent, lest blame be apportioned too readily.

As if sensing the script isn’t up to the mark, the younger Day-Lewis overstuffs his film with directorial flourishes and visual choices that annoy more than they astound. Slow motion, over-elaborate sets, and extensive aerial shots belie the film’s generous budget (Again, the presence of Day-Lewis Sr. is a boon in many ways), but draw attention to themselves more than enriching the story. Nodding to masters who come before you isn’t a bad thing, but with some elaborate moments Day-Lewis Jr. invites unfavourable comparison to the likes of Lars von Trier, Béla Tarr and his father’s previous collaborator Paul Thomas Anderson.

The young filmmaker is overambitious, but he doesn’t have the story nailed down to back up his artistic vigour. Some moments of symbolism inspire laughter in their obviousness (The swordfish, the hail), while others obscure for the sake of obscurity (One moment of CG-laden horrendousness with a horse fetus soul creature ice… thing(?) defies all explanation). All this is soundtracked by Bobby Krlic’s screeching electric-heavy score in a deafening sound mix that the film weaponizes to insist on its own importance.

The cast do a lot of heavy lifting. Day-Lewis Sr. is as ripe and riveting as you’d expect, and he gets a couple of gripping monologues that demonstrate Ray’s fractured mindset. Meanwhile, Morton continues her recent string of strong performances in projects that frankly don’t deserve her. A late monologue in which she details her experience of watching Ray become more isolated is the film’s highlight. Bottomley does fine, even if he can’t compete with the pedigree of actors next to him, but Sean Bean is wasted in a badly underwritten role. Jem’s primary purpose appears to be an audience substitute, staring agog as Ray continues to belittle him and lament the life he’s lost.

The person who comes out best from Anemone is cinematographer Ben Fordesman. His colourful compositions give the film a levity and sense of life that the writing and direction would seek to deny. The look of Anemone isn’t exactly subtle, but it is vivid and enticing, especially when the rest of the film is so pompous and draining.

Anemone had potential, but its young writer-director needed to work out what exactly he wanted to say. Even the title, referring to a buttercup-like flower that grows around Ray’s cottage, serves no great meaning. Anemone, both the flower and the film, is pretty and inviting in the moment, but it’s too weak and lacking in structure to stick around when cold reality hits.

Anemone was screened at the BFI London Film Festival on 14-19 October, 2025.