Men film review: a twisted country house horror
Jessie Buckley and Rory Kinnear star in a ‘playfully twisted affair’ set deep in the English countryside
In this “terrific, timely” feature debut from French film-maker Elie Grappe, former gymnast Anastasiia Budiashkina plays Olga – a rising star of Ukrainian gymnastics whose “shot for glory coincides with the 2014 Ukrainian revolution”, said Wendy Ide in The Observer. Her mother, a journalist, is a critic of President Yanukovych, and her work puts them both in immediate danger – as we learn in a “superb, visceral scene” in which her car is rammed as she drives through the streets. With the protests in Kyiv intensifying, Olga escapes to a training camp in Switzerland, her late father’s home country. She wins the chance to represent Switzerland in the upcoming European Championships, but there are rivalries in the camp, and Olga does not feel at home in Switzerland. She is distressed by the scenes emerging from Kyiv, and is “consumed with simmering self-hatred”, said Kevin Maher in The Times, “for abandoning her country” and her family. “It’s the kind of all-consuming revulsion that can only be purged by a scene of self-flagellation, late at night in the gym.”
It’s often said, as if this were an “unqualified positive”, that sports films are not really about swimming, golf, gymnastics or whatever, said Donald Clarke in The Irish Times. And in this case, the actors work hard “at creating a drama about the tensions of close collaboration and the temptation to give in to professional or political pressures”. I, however, rather wished the film had been a bit more engaged with the “technical rigours” of Olga’s sport. Still, its makers probably did not set out to teach us about gymnastics, and as a personal drama, it works very nicely.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
October 13 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Monday's political cartoons include Donald Trump's consolation prize, government workers during shutdown, and more
-
Can Gaza momentum help end the war in Ukraine?
Today's Big Question Zelenskyy’s request for long-range Tomahawk missiles hints at ‘warming relations’ between Ukraine and US
-
The Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners being released
The Explainer Triumphant Donald Trump addresses the Israeli parliament as families on both sides of the Gaza war reunite with their loved ones
-
The delightful, smutty world of Jilly Cooper
In the Spotlight Millions mourn the ‘Mrs Kipling of sex’
-
Lee Miller at the Tate: a ‘sexy yet devastating’ show
The Week Recommends The ‘revelatory’ exhibition tells the photographer’s story ‘through her own impeccable eye’
-
6 eye-catching rounded homes
Feature Featuring a central spiral staircase in Michigan and a Balinese-style estate with ocean views in Hawaii
-
A House of Dynamite: a ‘nail-biting’ nuclear-strike thriller
The Week Recommends ‘Virtuoso talent’ Kathryn Bigelow directs a ‘fast-paced’ and ‘tense’ ‘symphony of dread’
-
The Finest Hotel in Kabul: a ‘haunting’ history of modern Afghanistan
The Week Recommends Lyse Doucet’s sensitively written work traces over 50 years of Kabul’s ‘Inter-Con’ hotel
-
The Smashing Machine: Dwayne Johnson is ‘magnetic’ in gritty biopic
The Week Recommends The wrestler-turned-Hollywood-actor takes on the role of troubled UFC champion Mark Kerr
-
Shadow Ticket: Thomas Pynchon’s first novel in over a decade
The Week Recommends Zany whodunnit about a private eye in 1930s Milwaukee could be the 88-year-old author’s ‘last hurrah’
-
Southern barbecue: This year’s top three
Feature A weekend-only restaurant, a 90-year-old pitmaster, and more