#TIFF23: “THE END WE START FROM” REVIEW

By Amanda Gilmore

Director Mahalia Belo makes an assured debut feature with this adaptation of Megan Hunter’s prophetic Novel of the same name.

Climate change has caused cataclysmic flooding in London causing residents to become houseless. This sends a new mother (Jodie Comer), her partner (Joel Fry), and their days-old newborn to flee to the English countryside to stay with his family. But when his parents die and the couple reaches the end of their food supply, the family must make the choice to separate. Sending the mother and infant into a shelter and the father to find his own way of survival.

The End We Start From is an Apocalyptic Drama that leaves room for hope. It’s a rounded examination of the effect an environmental disaster would have on humanity…possibly leading it to social collapse. Belo and Screenwriter Alice Birch (who also penned previous TIFF selections Lady Macbeth, Mothering Sunday and The Wonder) keep the climate disaster and cruelty off-screen. Allowing their Actors to show the anxiety, tension and trauma they’re experiencing.

We encounter the formidable ensemble through the new mother’s journey. Each stop she makes feels episodic as we’re introduced to different characters. These characters, for the most part, remain nameless just as our core family does. They include a moving performance from Katherine Waterston who befriends our mother in the shelter and the two travel together for a new home with their infants. And Benedict Cumberbatch (who also produced the Film) makes a brief appearance as a man mourning the loss of his entire family in the disaster.

This ensemble is led by Comer, who continues to prove herself to be one of the greatest Actresses of her generation. It’s a deeply affecting performance of a woman learning to be a mother during the impossible. She must provide for her child while there is no food, water or shelter and where the threat of attack lurks everywhere. Within the environment and humanity.

The End We Start From screens at TIFF ’23:

Sunday, September 10 at 1:30 PM at Roy Thompson Hall

Monday, September 11 at 7:30 PM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto

Saturday, September 16 at 3:45 PM Scotiabank Theatre Toronto

Sunday, September 17 at 6:05 PM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto