Enys Men [DVD + Blu-ray]

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She treks across a moor in a small island off the far west coast of Cornwall called Enys Men (pronounced ‘Ennis Main’ in Cornish and translated as ‘Stone Island’). Enys Men is shot in colour of a fierce, rich sort, and looks as if it was made in the year it is set: 1973. It is not exactly a horror film, despite some spasms of disquiet, but an uncanny evocation of how, when left utterly on our own, we spiral inwards into our memories, dreams and fears. Mary Woodvine (who was the well-off second-home owner in Bait) plays a woman living on a remote Cornish island, in a simple cottage whose future condition of moss-covered dereliction she appears to foretell or hallucinate. She is apparently researching the state of some wildflowers at the cliff-edge, every day inspecting their condition and taking their soil temperature, and solemnly recording the unvarying results in pencil in a ledger. On-stage Q&A interview with Mark Jenkin and Mary Woodvine by film critic Mark Kermode at BFI Southbank (2022) They filmed him on the last day, she says smiling; her own past and that of her character all joining up in the most moving way. Enys Men also shows how the volunteer’s connection with Boswens, her life and Cornish history are forever interlinked in that mysterious land. “We were joining up all the gaps,” she says, smiling at the memory. “The pasts all coming together, thanks to that strange stone!” The film was promoted bilingually, with posters being produced in both English and Cornish. [9] [10] It was thought to be the first instance of a distributed feature film having Cornish posters. [9] Reception [ edit ] Critical [ edit ]

Some will be left confused – even frustrated – by a narrative that slips between dreams and reality Ella Turner, who worked as a production coordinator on the shoot and herself a graduate from Falmouth, explains: “The students showed their hard work and keenness to learn right from day one, using their initiative throughout the shoot, fitting in with all departments and always ready to help out. I loved working with the team, it’s so relieving when you can rely on someone to get on with things.” Speaking on The Film Makers Podcast podcast earlier this month, Jenkin shared the story of how his approach to film-making was born out of his re-found love of the craft. He started at sixth form college in the ’80s, developing stills photography, then shooting on Super8 in the 90s, before later becoming disillusioned. During a period recuperating after a minor operation, he watched and rewatched Mark Cousins’ 15-episode 2011 documentary, The Story of Film: An Odyssey. “I bought a Super 8 camera and a roll of film and retraced my steps.” The Duchy of Cornwall (1938, 15 mins): the strange beauty of Cornwall resonates through this iconic film from the vaults of the BFI National Archive A wildlife volunteer’s (Mary Woodvine) daily observations of a rare flower take a dark turn into the strange and metaphysical, forcing both her and viewers to question what is real and what is nightmare. Is the landscape not only alive but sentient?

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On her way home she passes a single Neolithic standing stone that’s around 10-foot high. It sometimes resembles a hooded woman when seen from a distance. The ivy covered dilapidated house where this woman is living is nearby. She will never be named and is credited only as ‘The Volunteer’ and she’s played by Mary Woodvine, the partner of writer/director Mark Jenkin (who also composed and performed a very atmospheric, Eno-esque ambient score using an analogue synthesizer and a tape loop). The Duchy of Cornwall (1938, 15 mins): a rapid survey of early Cornish history looks at the county's language, landscape and industries The pace here is slow and dialogue is minimal – with much of it coming via her limited interactions on a battered VHF metal maritime radio. No one is named. In addition to the Volunteer and the Girl; there’s the Boatman; the Preacher and others. Enys Men is far from plot heavy and I don’t even know how much of it I properly understood. Despite this, never for a moment was I remotely bored. Instead, I found myself consistently fascinated.

In his essay The Weird and the Eerie (2016), the academic Mark Fisher defined eeriness as "constituted by a failure of absence or by a failure of presence". That is, for Fisher, the eerie "occurs either when there is something present where there should be nothing, or if there is nothing present when there should be something". Enys Men falls into the former camp, where the island should be absence made manifest, but instead provides spectres of class trauma breaking the volunteer's solitude. The local industry and its demise is the most unsettled ghost of the film. This woman’s steady state of hermit-like seclusion is disrupted when she sees lichen emerging from a flower and finds lichen growing on her own skin. She has visions, perhaps of dead miners or lifeboatmen, and also of an elderly priest, singing the hymn Brightly Beams Our Father’s Mercy, with its request to send a light to save “some poor fainting, struggling seaman”. He is played by Woodvine’s father, the distinguished Shakespearean actor John Woodvine. Mary Woodvine mesmerises in Mark Jenkin’s superbly haunting Cornish gem.” – Mark Kermode, Kermode & Mayo’s TakeWe’ve been involving students in feature film production for over a decade now but seeing students working in all weathers on remote locations is a privilege to be able to offer, and extremely rewarding for those involved. Many of these students were second year undergraduates at the time – and we can see the impact on their learning and the ambition of their own practice when they move into the third year, and after graduation – where those involved have moved immediately into roles within the film and television industries.” Enys Men is written and directed by Mark Jenkin. It stars Mary Woodvine, Edward Rowe, Flo Crowe and John Woodvine.