Anemone
Daniel Day-Lewis emerges from retirement a second time, for a self-conscious character study directed by his son, Ronan Day-Lewis.
Cabin fever: Daniel Day-Lewis
Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures.
It has been eight years since Daniel Day-Lewis announced his second retirement from acting. And seven years since his last Oscar nomination, for Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread. It would have to be something pretty special to coax the much-garlanded actor back in front of a camera. In this instance, it’s the opportunity to launch the directing career of his son Ronan, with whom he has collaborated on the screenplay. And it’s another chance to inhabit the bones and skin of an extraordinary character.
As an actor, Daniel Day-Lewis is a force of nature, an apt metaphor for Ray Stoker, a wild, uncouth and frightening figure who has shut himself away from civilisation and, more painfully, from his family. Embalmed in a cabin blessed with few amenities (and a few anemones) in the wilds of northern England, Ray Stoker lives off the forest around him, sleeping in the open air, going for cold water swims, taking long runs on the beach and working by the light of a gas lamp. And he cuts a striking figure, his grey hair kept short above piercing grey eyes and a shaggy grey handlebar moustache. His needs are modest, his conversation terse and his hygiene wanting. He has fashioned himself into a wild woodsman, self-sufficient and far from the ghosts of his past. Yet he is still haunted by visions and the last thing he needs is a visit from his younger brother, Jem (Sean Bean).
At first, the filmmakers are at pains to reveal as little narrative nourishment as possible, allowing the camera to soar ominously over a canopy of trees safeguarding Ray’s hideaway and to record a wordless farewell as Jem leaves the claustrophobic environs of Sheffield. An air of mystery permeates these early scenes, with penetrating close-ups, static camera set-ups and views of the moors in all their elemental sweep. When Jem has finally clawed his way through the dense countryside, Ray is waiting for him with a mug of tea. Their reunion is non-verbal, any communication relayed by cursory hand movements. Then Ray stares at Jem with a look that would freeze the hackles of a cat. “Twenty years,” Jem finally sighs. “Fuck off!” is Ray’s reply.
There is a potent poetry in these early scenes, and Day-Lewis exudes a presence that is mesmeric. And the younger Day-Lewis certainly exhibits a cinematic eye, but the stasis of his storytelling and the refusal to divulge key plot points tests the patience. Less is often more, but not at the expense of a tale to tell, perversely leaving the viewer in the dark until our interest has wandered far from the focus of the film. Daniel Day-Lewis’s performance unquestionably demands attention, as do the windswept vistas of a natural world out of control, but ultimately it’s an uphill trek that smacks of self-indulgence. The title, which refers to the wild flower of the buttercup family, is as abstruse and perplexing as the name of another art-house misfire we witnessed this year, Hot Milk. Take it as a warning.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sean Bean, Samantha Morton, Samuel Bottomley, Safia Oakley-Green, Paul Butterworth.
Dir Ronan Day-Lewis, Pro Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, Ex Pro Daniel Day-Lewis and Brad Pitt, Screenplay Ronan Day-Lewis and Daniel Day-Lewis, Ph Ben Fordesman, Pro Des Chris Oddy, Ed Nathan Nugent, Music Bobby Krlic, Costumes Jane Petrie, Sound Steve Fanagan.
Plan B Entertainment-Universal Pictures.
125 mins. UK/USA. 2025. US Rel: 3 October 2025. UK Rel: 7 November 2025. Cert. 15.
