A portentous opening sequence brings us a future UK which has fallen to the rise of neofascism, which in turn has led to a military coup and subsequent uprising. Civil war has become the new normal.
Ruth (Shauna Macdonald) wakes to a small stark room, white panels on all sides, perforated metal floor below, and is subjected to a strange, disembodied, interrogation and sudden, brutal torture, but swears she is a lowly cog in the machine, knowing nothing. After twenty minutes of this intensity the action switches back five days, and, day by day, gives us the events that led up to Ruth's incarceration, turning our perceptions on their heads.
The twists that follow show the fine dividing lines between captors and captives, and the twisted justifications for inhuman behaviour that humans will use when they have a 'cause', have 'belief'. And the power of revenge as a motivational factor.
The film makes no effort to nail a particular political standpoint, but it's equally clear this is envisaged as a Britain suffering the worst effects of the brexit fallout we are already seeing. (And makes an underlying assumption that 'the UK' will continue to exist....) There's a mishmash of genres at work throughout (something the director, in an interview after the screening, said he was aiming for) so it's hard to push this into any box - sci-fi, psychological drama, thriller, apocalypse, horror are all in there. This makes it satisfyingly unpredictable, but leaves the viewer feeling unsatisfyingly confused. And the horror elements are so memorable as to swamp memories of the more interesting aspects of the movie.
Great supporting performance from Nicholas Farrell as a calming centre to the storm, and the sets, whilst clearly done on a shoestring, are impressively clinical and devoid of empathy.
As The Handmaid's Tale has become the gloomy prognosticator for Trump's America, White Chamber, as a story, had the potential to take on the role of our own dystopian warning. It misses that target by some distance. There's a lot to enjoy about this film, but it's too flawed to be any more than an entertainment.
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