Written by: Lynne Ramsay & Rory Stewart Kinnear
Starring: Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly, Ezra Miller, Jasper Newell, Ashley Gerasimovich
Rating: [5/5]
The love parents have for their children inherently exists as unconditional due to biology and human psychology. Something that pulls parents to love their children no matter the circumstances, but what we witness in We Need to Talk About Kevin truly pushes this belief to its absolute limits. By sitting in its horrifying dread and making parenthood nothing to look forward to this feature digs into something so primal and befitting of its title that makes for such an uncomfortable viewing experience but such an immaculately captured presentation.
Initially reluctant to become a mother, Eva Khatchadourian (Tilda Swinton) realizes her son Kevin (Ezra Miller) son has some attachment issues and seemingly resents her. This begins from Kevin’s early days as a baby and seemingly will not dissipate to a concerning degree, which she feels uncomfortable addressing.
Through its narrative We Need to Talk About Kevin relishes the opportunity to make its audience uncomfortable and addressing a truly terrifying thought such as what does a parent do if they genuinely think their child is evil. We’ve seen this played out for laughs in other films such as Little Evil where the kid is seemingly a spawn of the devil, but in many of these circumstances, we see this take place through the perspective of a stepparent entering the child’s life. This particular feature digs into the biological connection of a mother and son, which makes the dynamic of this relationship much more intriguing to dissect and this film does so emphatically.
The connection between a mother and child exceeds anything else imaginable as others with more credentials can corroborate. It explains why in divorces in most cases the mother gets the majority of the custody. There’s something sacred about the biology of a mother carrying a child for nine months in their womb in this connection that nothing else could possibly replace. We Need to Talk About Kevin presents the idea of what if a woman goes through all of the stages of bringing someone into the world and they’re frankly a terrible person even up to the point where they actively harm others. Eva must reckon with what she can do and who she tells especially when it proves evident that this kid knows how to manipulate others into believing her insane with the concerns she presents. All of this coming from a biological mother makes it all the graver and the disconcerting feeling this feature maintains throughout truly stuns because seeing everything through Eva’s experience we can see the dread continually build behind her eyes as she comes to the realization about the boy she has created.
With Eva coming to this realization we see a handful of scenes of her attempts to connect with Kevin and none of it works out for unexplained reasons. She genuinely tries and receives nothing but hatred on the other side. It certainly does not serve as the greatest advertisement for convincing anyone to have kids considering the sheer randomness of the behaviour we see in Kevin. It seemingly does not originate from the parents based on the demeanor we witness from them but it exists, Eva sees it, and convcining others of the concern becomes the perpetual struggle she encounters throughout this narrative. Watching these scenes will make you feel bad for her as one could not describe her as a bad parent even with her initial doubts of wanting to reproduce. She tries to make the most of it and none of it comes back to her in a favorable manner. Additionally, this film looks at the expectations placed on a mother and how they face the brunt of the blame when things go wrong and not much of the credit when they go well. Through much of the runtime, we have Eva expressing her grave concerns for the actions of her son only to be continually reassured that she’s overreacting. As the beginning shows us, it solely does not matter seeing as mothers have this expectation above all else that proves difficult to ever keep with, which again only dissuades someone already on the fence about going on this childmaking journey.
Adapting this film film a novel brilliantly Lynne Ramsay does absolute wonders here. It proves a shame we wait so long in between all of her films, especially when her output always drips in quality and what she manages to craft here absolutely astounds. Ramsay ensures this story grips onto us with the knowledge from the very beginning of something terrible eventually happening. It begins with Eva visiting Kevin in prison meaning this teenage kid must do something absolutely heinous to be sent to be put in this situation and throughout the film it continues to build this tension and fear that becomes all-consuming in presenting the horrifying truth of this individual. We know the show will eventually drop but we just do not know when and Ramsay keeps us in suspense for the majority of this runtime where your palms will begin to sweat as a result.
Cheekily serving as a tremendous commercial for contraceptives but seriously telling a heart-pounding story about parental responsibility, We Need to Talk About Kevin presents a frankness in its perspective that will make anyone watching it deeply uncomfortable. Within it, we have two incredible performances by Tilda Swinton and John C. Reilly as the former serves as the constant warning call and the latter the complicit blind decisionmaker all exacerbating the position. Everything about this continuously builds to a heart-palpitating degree as we, along with Eva, try to decipher what elements of the red flags this child brings up should merit a level of intervention where she receives absolutely no support in doing so. Parenting has never quite looked so difficult as in this feature as it cuts away all of the flowery elements and presents a complete nightmare. Lynne Ramsay creates a true masterwork in teasing out the tension of this film and it mortified and enthralled me as a viewer.
Films with Josh 
