
Saying it’s only payback wouldn’t cut it, it’s been 15 years since she decided to take her revenge, and she is finally ready to unleash it in “The Wasp”. “The Wasp” isn’t as cut and dry as it seems it gives us quite an impression, only for us to be hit with a barrage of twists. The narrator intends for us to feel that we are part of the action, but in fact, we are purely spectators. The script is an impenetrable labyrinth.
Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, the playwright who adapted the film to a screenplay, must have thought of the audience when writing the play “The Wasp”. The ‘expansion’ of the play is medium and only slight. There are just two main characters, and everything important happens in a single place. The entire film is depicted in the midst of two large scenes that ask much then and there from the two actors. The character arcs are big. Putting it even simply, Naomie Harris and Natalie Dormer deliver enthralling performances, both in tandem and mostly in tandem. This is not only because the actors’ performance always corresponds to the script, but also due to the director’s vision Guillem Morales who handles the topics of visual limitation in a rather wide manner, vertically and horizontally expanding the canvas for the characters. It’s as if the earth suddenly vanishes. The trailer is bare, except for a few elements. What occurs is quite disturbing, and yet, when the evidence comes to light, it is horrifying yet completely logical.
Heather (Harris) has a lovely house in a nice neighborhood. Her husband, whom she never sees and who rarely comes home, owns it. But when he comes back, he is always sour and seems rude. Without any explanation, he is out at all hours of the night. Heather has reason to believe that something is amiss.
A fertility application on her phone buzzes like a nuisance and reminds her that her marriage is basically over, at least as far as intimacy is concerned. Aside from the giant buzzing balloons, she is already on edge because of the stress emanating from the bees in her kitchen who seem to have made the buzzing sound their mantra. There must be an airless section in the house. She chastises herself for allowing things to go this far and makes efforts to remedy the situation. Was that really her childhood out there back when Carla killed the hurt dove with a stone, how many years ago? The two haven’t been in touch all these years, Heather considers some damage that a person who could do it could do to her, husband, or anyone else, considering someone like that. Now pregnant for the fourth time and working at the supermarket, she has no other choice but to convince Carla (Dormer). They both have aged but have not changed since Middle School.
Carla wouldn’t want to entertain it at all, but the money on offer is rather difficult to refuse. There is something almost pathetic about Heather, and fiercely willing to please, perhaps even a bit cowed by the tough, streetwise Carla. And Heather is such a dreadful lady at this point, Carla feels, she is just a privileged woman who has never had to work for anything. As for Heather, well, what does she think she is going to get? She is supposed to be planning her husband’s murder. What does she expect Carla wonders about, Heather’s lines in reverse. There comes a time when Heather says with utmost sincerity, “I want to kill him but I don’t want to have to make any” changes “to my life in any way.” Is this woman serious? Carla has other ideas. Looking at her, one is bound to be impressed, a puffy jacket and pregnant belly aside, the woman isn’t one who will take ‘no’ for an answer. One is left with no other choice but to follow everyone else’s lead as Carla’s pace continues to accelerate. For Heather, everything has to be immaculate and certainly tailored, while for her it matters little. What everyone agrees on however is that Carla’s presence dominates the room.
“We’re so different,” Heather says to Carla. Impatient, Carla eyeballs her and inquires, “Are we?”
Some of the symbolism, the wasps, for instance, felt so heavy with significance, or at least it was hard to miss. The film begins with Heather’s fascination with wasps, and the set-up has been foreshadowed extensively. A tamer example might be the framed portrait of a hideous spider that runs the length of the hallway in Heather’s house. The portraits remind the viewer where this action is taking place the women are busy creating a web for Simon. They do not want to become ‘fly’ themselves. Carla further raises questions about Heather’s strategy. But there is a class divide in all of this. It has a sort of patronizing, bordering on sympathy with Carla, while knowing that it is the working-class Carla that should have knowledge “about such things”. She will show her “masculinity”. All the characters look down upon their counterparts. As soon as the second major scene commences, the audience can feel the tone shift, and the icons as well. Then, the wasps, and the spiders on the wall emerged out of nowhere and displayed their true significance.
The symbols have to operate too much, however, placing emphasis on these symbols in the story as active forces were in itself captivating, especially the way they changed. The script is if anything not the most impressive part of the movie, as it relies heavily on the performance of Harris and Dormer. Best known for her visceral and heartbreaking role in the Oscar-winning film “Moonlight”, Harris is a versatile actress. Her Heather strikes as almost tightly wound as her overtly cordial disposition is just a mask over the bedlam within her. There are instances when she regards Carla with an eager-to-please expression, her smile, and a guidance counselor’s demeanor to the situation are so grossly misplaced, that one wonders why she isn’t in a secure psychiatric facility. Yet, there is one little obstacle Heather has a secret and that secret is in charge of the play. Harris exclusively decides how and when to reveal that secret. It requires a lot of control to give a performance like that. Harris’s equal on the screen, Dormer fires contempt, confusion, and impatience back at Harris throughout the film.
For me, that’s the biggest takeaway from a film: watching two people create this event, Harris and Dormer. In that beautiful but terrifying fishbowl-style apartment, anything and everything is possible. And it is.
for more movies like The Wasp 2024 on 123movies