Festivals - FCAD 2020 : The Nest joins the competition

By Mulder, 18 august 2020

“ Growing up between America and England in the 80’s and 90’s, I experienced a stark difference in atmosphere between the two places that has long stayed with me. I always felt the contrast would provide a haunting tonal shift in a film and this backdrop sparked the conception of The Nest. Within this setting I wanted reflect on personal experience to create an unsettling, naturalistic family drama that explores how a move across the Atlantic uproots the dormant truths that lie beneath this family’s dynamic. Within the family, my priority was to explore a marriage in a truthful way. Rory and Allison are a complex couple, deeply in love and attracted to each other, they have a seemingly equal partnership that is slowly unmasked as a co-created myth. Their individual dualities make them both perfect partners and polar opposites. They are respectively plagued by aspirational values of the society around them, and the duty handed down to them by previous generations.
I set the film in 1986 to explore the link between America and the UK. Pre-financial crash, the emerging global market, and London at the height of deregulation. I wanted to intrinsically link the celebrated values of the time, such as risk and ambition, to the issues at the core of the family’s conflict. It was an era of capitalist opportunism that promised plenty, and Rory sees it as a way to have the life they always dreamed of. But the move to England quickly erodes the equality that Rory and Allison have in America, and Allison’s identity is subsumed by being his wife. They slip into traditional gender roles, propping each other up in co-dependency. As he tries to face his past she becomes the silent enabler, succumbing to his mythomania, all at the cost of her family’s wellbeing. The Nest explores themes of masculinity, gender roles, family structure, and the American dream by examining a family at a very specific time and place that is both a unique moment in history and one that reflects today.” - Sean Durkin

The Nest is a 2020 thriller film written, directed, and produced by Sean Durkin. It stars Jude Law, Carrie Coon, Charlie Shotwell, Oona Roche, and Adeel Akhtar.It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 26, 2020. It is scheduled to be released on September 18, 2020, by IFC Films.

The project was announced in April 2018, with Jude Law and Carrie Coon set to star for writer and director Sean Durkin. Filming began in September 2018 in Canada for one week before moving to England. It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 26, 2020. Shortly after, IFC Films acquired distribution rights to the film. It is scheduled to be released on September 18, 2020. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film currently holds an approval rating of 83% based on 18 reviews.

Synopsis :
The future of a family is plunged into uncertainty upon relocation from America to England, as the tense isolation of their new home affects them differently.

The Nest
Directed by Sean Durkin
Produced by Ed Guiney, Rose Garnett, Derrin Schlesinger, Sean Durkin, Christina Piovesan, Amy Jackson
Screenplay by Sean Durkin
Starring Jude Law, Carrie Coon, Charlie Shotwell, Oona Roche, Adeel Akhtar
Music by Richard Reed Parry
Cinematography : Mátyás Erdély
Edited by Matthew Hannam
Production company : BBC Films, Element Pictures, FilmNation Entertainment, Telefilm Canada, Substitute Films
Distributed by IFC Films (United-States), SND (France)
Release date : January 26, 2020 (Sundance), September 18, 2020 (United States)
Running time : 107 minutes