Review: Rare Beasts

Billie Piper has had a fascinating career – from late-90s teen pop sensation, through to Doctor Who assistant, critically-acclaimed work in both theatre and television and now to a new phase as a writer-director. In the last couple of years, Piper has written and directed her first feature film – Rare Beasts, as well as created a television show – I Hate Suzie.

Both of these latest works are highly personal and you could go so far as to say semi-autobiographical. With Piper presenting a raw, vanity-free look at aspects of herself and her life that are exposing a vulnerability and truth about both her specific circumstances and more widely – about women in general.

‘A Hero’, ‘Compartment No. 6’, ‘Attica’, ‘Hold Your Fire’ – TIFF 2021 Review

Rare Beasts is about Mandy (Piper), a single-mother works who works in television production and who strikes up a fractious relationship with her co-worker Pete (Leo Bill). Mandy lives with her Mum Marion (Kerry Fox) and occasionally sees her Dad Vic (David Thewlis). I will start by saying that if you find the tone of the opening scene – Mandy and Pete’s first date – jarring or off-putting, you’re probably not going to like the rest of the film.

There is quick-fire dialogue in which both characters say exactly what they’re thinking (which Mandy will later call “hateful honesty”), which will likely have much (most?) of the audience running for the hills. Mandy and her son both have anxiety and Mandy repeats a mantra when she can feel herself spiralling. When she passes other women in the street, the mantra is looped back to her, forming a chorus of female voices. This part of the film is reminiscent of the unique musical London Road (Rufus Norris, 2015) which is based the true crime of the murders in Ipswich in 2006.

Pete is traditional and religious – there is an awkward dinner party at this house, with a table full of sisters which has echoes of a similar scene in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love (2002). At around the film’s halfway point, there is an extended sequence that takes place at a wedding, on what appears to be a Greek island (but could in fact just be the south of England on a sunny day), with a cameo by Lily James as the bride.

‘Belfast’, ‘Dune’, ‘Last Night in Soho’, ‘Titane’ – TIFF 2021 Review

The dance-floor scene at the wedding is the highlight of the film, with Piper surely knowing that we would need a moment of relief and release halfway through. It also has the best use of music, camerawork and editing in the film. Some of the location-scouting and set-design in the film is also really good, with the climactic scene having a dramatic flourish, but the details of Mandy and Marion’s home being equally impressive.

The most satisfying arc of the film (if any part could be called that) is between Mandy’s parents – Marion becomes fatally ill and all of the complications, recriminations and regrets of the last thirty years start to come out. It should go without saying that Fox and Thewlis act the hell out of this – despite what they’ve been through, Marion and Vic cannot help but be drawn together during this finite time. There is a heightened, theatrical scene near the end – where Mandy at various ages performs on a stage while a family argument rages before her (Piper seems to get closest to her real self in these heightened segments – in both this and I Hate Suzie) and I wish there had been more of this style of scene.

‘Becoming Cousteau’, ‘Julia’, ‘Jagged’ – TIFF 2021 Review

Piper’s writing (which will not be to everybody’s tastes) and acting are extraordinary – her physical insecurities are laid bare and she fully explores Mandy’s mass of contradictions. At times confident, powerful and at times excruciatingly insecure and anxious. It’s is tempting to read things into Rare Beasts that might not actually be there (Leo Bill’s physical resemblance to one of Piper’s ex-husbands, for example), but there is no getting away from the fact that Piper has surely mined aspects of her life and personality for this frank look at modern relationships (with lovers, children and parents).

It is thrilling to witness this exciting new phase in Piper’s career and long may it continue. It’s such a promising time for women writer-director-actors making personal work such Fleabag, I May Destroy You, Catastrophe, Starstruck – and Piper slots right into these with both Rare Beasts and I Hate Suzie. I cannot wait to see where she goes next.