Director: Alice Lowe

Stars: Alice Lowe, Jacob Anderson, Nick Frost, Tanya Reynolds, Aneurin Bevin, Kate Dickie

Writer-director-star Alice Lowe’s absurdist sci-fi comedy has its moments but does not really add up to a satisfying whole. She is Agnes, a woman living through a number of periods in history, in 1680s Scotland, in 1790s England, in 1840s Britain and in 1980s New York and more. In each she meets various incarnations of one man (Barnard) who she seems to be destined to be with, but fate keeps them apart via bizarre, lethal instances. Tanya Reynolds’ turns up in different periods as a friend, confidante and helpmeet, Meg, along with Jacob Anderson’s advisor and guide Scipio. Rebecca Gore’s costuming is amusingly de trop, especially during the Georgian passages, and cinematographer Ryan Eddleston delivers some beautiful vividly coloured tableaux redolent of Peter Greenaway. But the narrative, despite some clever time toggling narrative feels repetitive. Lowe’s catty and solipsistic heroine generates at least manages to generate some deadpan laughs.

David Willoughby

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