The Opening scroll reports that a group of families separated for the Church of Ireland in 1873 and started a closed settlement in North America. They maintained their practices ignoring world events outside their town line and shunned modern technology. After and Eclipse 17 years before the main events of the film pestilence hit the settlement affecting all of the settlement except for Agatha Earnshaw (Catherine Walker) who lives on the outskirts. The villagers have there theories on her and she also happened to give birth to a daughter the same year as the Eclipse. The townsfolk continue to struggle as Audrey (Jessica Reynolds) has grown into womanhood in secret. The answer may be to become more devout or to lash out at the woman who many believe is a heretic and responsible for their bad luck.
It's now the Autumn of 1973 as the camera swoops in over the small settlement by the woods a man comes to trade by Agatha sends him away. He leaves with a veiled threat then Agatha gives the same to his daughter as a further reason why she must stay hidden. The pair head out to meet the Others a group of ritualistic spiritual women in white that some might brand as witches. To get to the meeting they have to pass through town as the preachers is burying his grandson. They make it through after a confrontation that Audrey watched from inside a crate vowing she is ready to help and her mother should never face such ridicule again.
Writer-Director Thomas Robert Lee tells a story of a religious community anchored firmly in the past. The first question of such communities is should they maintain their ways when modern advancements could reduce their suffering especially in the case of children who are sick or could die from their illness. The narrative is so absorbing that the viewer forgets about the outside world and commits the tale not jolted out of the world until a plane passes overhead towards the end of the film.
Catherine Walker works well as the protagonist for the first sections of the film as Agatha. She is overprotective of her daughter seeing to her every need but is well aware of the true nature of her parentage and that Audrey is growing stronger every day. Jessica Reynolds is a fresh new face as Audrey she is memorizing to the town folk with the ability to quickly get them under her spell. She puts a curse on the town for their treatment of her mother and when she decides to break free there is no one that can stop her.
The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw will have some thinking about M. Night Shalayman's The Village. Here though the townsfolk are all aware of the outside world and consciously choose not to be part of it. The manifestation of Audrey's powers is subtle at first then wash over her and the town like a wave. The film does raise questions on the practice to commit so completely to a set of tenets a debate that has been going on for centuries and will continue.
*** Out of 4
The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw | Thomas Robert Lee | Canada | 2020 | 93 Minutes.
Tags: Religion, Righteousness, Ritual, Secrecy, Sacrifice, Eclipse, Pestilence, Isolation, Famine, Witchcraft, Curse, Horse and Cart.
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