Directed by Mark Jenkin
Written by Mark Jenkin
Starring Mary Woodvine, Edward Rowe
Release Date January 13th, 2023
Published June 21st, 2023
Enys Men, pronounced, N-is Main, is Cornish for Stone Island. That's the setting for the story unfolding patiently and disquietingly in Mark Jenkin's unsettling atmospheric drama. Mary Woodvine stars as a character only known as 'The Volunteer.' The Volunteer has taken on the job of chronicling the unexpected growth of new plant life on Enys Men, a place that hasn't seen new growth in some time. Each day, The Volunteer treks forth from her cottage to an oceanside cliff where she monitors the temperature surrounding the growth of this plant life.
She then treks back home to document the minute, often unchanging data. This goes on day after day after day, without a deviation from her pattern. It's a pattern that also includes a stop at an ancient well where she tests the height of the water by dropping a rock and tracking the seconds it takes to make contact with the bottom of the well. This too is unchanging until one day, it changes. Even this doesn't seem to shake The Volunteer from her routine. She makes note of it and goes on with her assignment. Occasionally, The Volunteer will share an awkward and rushed C.B conversation with a long time friend. Beyond that, The Volunteer appears to be alone. Until she isn't.
The disquieting nature of the narrative begins to truly take hold as The Volunteer begins hearing things on the roof of her cottage. It's a little girl, her own little girl, it would seem. Is this child here with her? There has been no evidence until this point that The Volunteer wasn't alone. The strange nature of the child first appearing on top of the cabin and then being a sort of ghostly presence inside the cabin, one that is only mildly commented upon, lends a further air of discomfort to what is unfolding. The Volunteer barely bats an eye over the sudden appearance of her apparent child. It's as if she's not at all surprised.
