There is a saying that revenge is a dish best served cold, however, the revenge doled out in “The Wasp” has been placed in the freezer for about 15 years. So cold, in fact, that it is actually passed off as something else entirely. There is a feeling throughout the film that it focuses on one idea and that is what it is but in fact it is not what the viewer assumes. There is the script which turns out to be an airtight lair.
The Wasp is a film closely based on Morgan Lloyd Malcolm’s stage play which she herself adapted for the screen. The action is ‘opened up’ but only in a minor way. There are only two protagonists, and there is only one place where any relevant action occurs. The film consists of two basic episodes which cost a lot from the two actresses. The characters’ development is quite intensive. Naomie Harris and Natalie Dormer do not only deliver their amazing performances one by one but mostly together. The work of the actors can be attributed to the script, but also to the director, Guillem Morales who has a pleasing way to approach this type of subject matter that is very limited in scope by expanding outwards and even downwards so that the characters have room to breathe. It’s like the bottom drops out. The trailer is non revealing. The events depicted in the trailer are shocking, but subltely reveal awful logic once the events take place.
Harris (Heather) lives in a lovely townhouse with her husband, Dominic Allburn, who is hardly ever around and is rude and uncouth when he is. He goes out all night long without a word to anyone. There’s something that Heather would rather not say on the sidelines.
Your children’s humor nursery design, a reminder of her failed marriage. Already unpleasant, now there are angry wasps flying in the kitchen, filling her mind with noise. There’s some sort of installation, she’ll make sure she finds it. And this is where her first steps of the plan begin. Heather is haunted by the memory of her childhood and particularly the time she saw her friend Carla with a rock crushing the head of a beautiful but hurt pigeon. It’s been ages since Heather last spoke to Carla but anyone that cruel was more than capable of killing her husband without hesitation in her opinion. Carla is twenty seven weeks pregnant with her fourth child, working in a supermarket and making just enough to pay the bills. Brought up inside the same classroom, they two never liked each other.
Carla does not want any connection with this, but the bribe that Heather offers is quite convincing. Carla can be seen as rough and appealing people pleaser who may be intimidated by Heather. When she thinks about present circumstances it is hard to say otherwise and she sees Heather as a foolish delusional lady from a better region. For Carla, Heather’s suggestions of how to kill her husband are comical. “I want to get rid of this man but I don’t want to change anything else in my life,” says Heather, completely straight faced. Does this woman exist Consumed capturing attention, Carla steps forward. The stubborn Carla, with her well rounded puffy jacket and protruding fully grown baby belly, has a definitely dominating pace so Heather is forced to chase her around. For such a distinctive contrast, Heather appears so elegant, while Carla, not so much, but it is obvious who is the boss.
With that said, some of the symbolism the wasps, for instance appeared overly dominant, or, at the very least, too obvious. To begin, the film begins with Heather’s obsession with wasps, and the set up was too over determined, which was aggravated by the existence of narrowly framed images of grotesque spiders hanging on the walls of the hallway of Heather’s townhouse. The portraits are settled beyond the frame of activity that is taking place in the room beyond these portraits. What are the women doing. Weaving traps for Simon Catching him can be managed but getting trapped in one’s web can be a challenge. Then, Carla is puncturing holes in one of Heather’s strategies. It is all clearly laden with class. Heather is being polite to Carla and there is a crassness and an expectation that Carla, being working class, must be knowing, well, about things of ‘such nature’. Heather claims that she would ‘rely’ on her ‘expertise’. All of them look down on each other. All soreness, all egotism gradually builds up towards the second major scene, and that too the crushing atmosphere gets replaced by new and fresh symbols. All of a sudden, the wasps and spiders on the wall turned into symbols about something of essential importance.
The burden of increased complexity is placed on the symbols, yet maintaining the symbols in action as an active element in the plot was a remarkable challenge. Indeed, the focus was on how the symbols morphed. As terrific as the script is, Harris` and Dormer’s work is what makes the film. Noted for her torture on screen in ‘Moonlight, Harris has a repertoire that dazzles within normal scope. For her Heather is tightly wound, and her knee jerk courtesy masks complete and utter chaos. At times when her eyelid scans Carla, she is compelled by the situation to wear an out of situation, childish smile, such that a quick turn into a locked psych ward is the best suited option for her. However, there is a more compelling narrative reason at play that Heather is attempting to keep secret. Harris controls totally the timing and the content of this revelation. Such a performance requires significant control. Dormer is Harris’ partner, hurling contempt, confusion and changing impatience back at Harris. This is the joy of watching Harris and Dormer bring this event to the screen. The risk of being in that beautiful, ugly townhouse was tempting, and anything could happen.
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