We need to talk about Kevin

This was Mark Kermode's 'film of the year' for 2011, so in settling down to watch 'We need to talk about Kevin' I was filled with very high expectations. Aside from that though I had absolutely no idea what to expect, having not read the book upon which it is based or having any idea what it was about. In fact, I wasn't even sure that the film had a character called Kevin until well over 20 minutes in!

In basic terms, this is the story of a boy called Kevin and the strained, manipulative relationship he has with his family. The film is so much more than that though. It's a psychologically disturbing amalgam of fractured scenes that happen at unsignposted moments in the history of Kevin's family. This style of non-linear story-telling creates a collage of scenes that set up a family steeped in unspoken truths, lies and a painfully poisonous mix of love and hatred. The film never looks like it's a story being told in retrospect or in flash forwards, rather it's a collection of events that make up a character's life, all happening at once like a life flashing before someone's eyes.

Tilda Swinton plays Eva - Kevin's mother - and gives a masterclass in the most intense style of acting. It is perhaps through Eva's emotional state that we get insight into the film's timeline. The more Swinton looks like she's in the verge of a breakdown, the closer to the present a scene lies. Her joy at having a child is slowly tempered over the years as he continues to treat her with suspicion, a suspicion that boils into occasional outbursts of shocking contempt. In Kevin's teenage years he continues to act with a chilling detachment that culminates in a series of shocking scenes, finally revealing the reason for Eva's present day emotional mire.

This is an extremely interesting story. There are a lot of themes in the film about parenting, upbringing, the origins of personalities and nature of evil. It seems crazy that there was no mention of the film at all at the Oscars, and though I don't agree with Kermode's film of the year accolade I recommend people watch it. Even if the story wasn't interesting and told in an exciting way, Tilda Swinton's performance is worth your 90 minutes investment alone.