Directors: Iain Forsyth, Jane Pollard

Stars: Emilíana Torrini, Caroline Catz, Nick Cave, Richard Ayaode, Alice Lowe

Part wry epistolary character sketch, and part song and dance performance piece, Forsyth and Pollard’s film ingeniously and catchily profiles the titular woman via songs by Icelandic singer-songwriter Emilíana Torrini, as well as readings of letters Flower received from devoted suitors around the world. The letters are read straight to camera by, among others, Richard Ayaode and Nick Cave. Sophie Ellis-Bextor narrates, opening with a speech on the value of letters, before singer Torrini, an engagingly cheeky figure throughout, talks about how they fired her imagination and inspired the eclectic selection of songs. Geraldine Flower, we learn, was born in Australia in 1947 to Aussie and Irish parents and moved to London when she was 21 (Caroline Catz plays the adult Flower). She worked as a journalist and in broadcasting. It is also hinted that she may have been a spy, but this may be more mere mischief and misdirection. This is a bracingly original work with a keen sense of momentum provided by the music, along with an archly offbeat dance accompaniment choreographed by Kate Coyne. Flower remains an elusive figure but perhaps that is the point of this fractured multi-perspective portrait.

David Willoughby

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