Archipelago
2010/ UK/ 114 mins/ Dir. Joanna Hogg
Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Kate Fahy, Lydia Leonard, Amy Lloyd
A quietly devastating portrayal of a family in emotional crisis.
Edward (Tom Hiddleston) is preparing to leave for a year of voluntary service in Africa. His mother Patricia (Kate Fahy) and his sister Cynthia (Lydia Leonard) decide to gather the family together, on a remote island, as a farewell trip to say goodbye to Edward. Hired cook Rose (Amy Lloyd) and painting teacher Christopher (Christopher Baker), though bought in to help, only serve to bring the family’s anxieties into sharper focus. When Edward’s father is delayed, the unspoken forces of absence and loss bring the family’s buried anger and repressed tension to the surface.
Archipelago is the second feature from acclaimed writer/director Joanna Hogg, whose first film Unrelated premiered at the 2007 London Film Festival, where it won the FIPRESCI International Critics prize. Unrelated went on to attract widespread critical acclaim on its UK release leading to Hogg receiving The Guardian’s Best Film Award 2009, and the Evening Standard’s Best Newcomer Award 2009.
‘Outstanding’
‘No other British director is making films quite like this.’