The Extraordinary Miss Flower: Film Review

The Extraordinary Miss Flower is a captivating biopic that invites the audience to take a closer look at an extraordinary life.

After Geraldine Flower (Caroline Catz) passed away, her family was left to discover a whole new truth about the woman when they uncovered secret letters declaring love from suitors across the world as well as suggesting that she may have led a double life as a spy. During the film, Miss Flower is almost brought back to life by the songs and images that recreate her letters, which served as an inspiration for Emilíana Torrini, an Icelandic singer and songwriter, in the recording of her newest album.

Admittedly, The Extraordinary Miss Flower is trying to do a lot in its short runtime, but perhaps surprisingly, it all works. During the film, the audience follows two separate stories: the discovery of Geraldine’s letters, and the writing and recording of Torrini’s music. They sound completely different, but they easily come together as the two women get to know one another thanks to the documentary, and have a conversation that would never have happened otherwise. In the liminal and imaginative space that the movie creates, they get to come together and discover one another while also learning from each other. 

The film also cleverly uses re-enactments to allow the audience, and the characters within the movie itself, to personally get to know the protagonist as the letters seem to come to life before our eyes. While its use may at times be controversial in documentary filmmaking, The Extraordinary Miss Flower is the perfect example of how to best incorporate such a technique as part of this genre. At the same time, it also manages to stay true to the real story we are discovering through the letters, photos, and musical performances as the film goes on. On top of this, this is as much Miss Flower’s story as it is Emiliana Torrini’s, the musician we also find out more and more about. 

The way music is included within the narrative of the movie is also very fascinating. The Extraordinary Miss Flower is in many ways also a performance film. After the letters are read to the audience, they are all followed by the song that each of them inspired. At times, this may feel too repetitive as a format, but the film varies its visuals just enough in terms of cinematography for the music performances to keep it interesting for the audience. As it goes on, some of it also feels like a very long music video or even an advertisement for Torrini’s album, even if the movie does a really good job at always connecting the songs with the main narrative focused on Miss Flower herself.

At the beginning of the film, one of the characters asks the protagonist a question: “Are you extraordinary Miss Flower?” By the end, it very much feels like the movie has answered its own question. The Extraordinary Miss Flower is not a film I had on my radar before watching it at the BFI London Film Festival, but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. In a year when I often felt like documentaries played it too safe, it is very refreshing to see a movie like this one that dares to take risks to accomplish its ambitious and complex vision. Music and film come together in the best way possible creating a hybrid product that you won’t know will work until you see it with your own eyes.

The Extraordinary Miss Flower will be screened at the BFI London Film Festival on October 19-20, 2024.