Magpie Has You Rooting For and Against Almost Every Character
When Anette (Daisy Ridley) and Ben’s (Shazad Latif) daughter lands a substantial acting role opposite a famous movie star (Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz), the couple’s relationship is put to the test. Ben becomes infatuated by the actress playing his daughter’s mother, causing him to keep secrets from his wife and threaten the future of his family unit, in Magpie.
While Ben is on set being the guardian for his daughter, Anette is left at home with their baby boy. It is clear from the start that she is not entirely happy about the situation or her life in general. Anette seems to be struggling with something deeper than just a relationship on the rocks. Ridley is able to portray Anette in a way that is both unsettling yet still worth sympathizing for. She slowly starts to unravel as things between Ben and Alicia seem to heat up.
Ben’s actions on set feel innocent at the start as he is just excited by the environment and high profile people. Quickly, his excitement turns into more of an infatuation with his daughter’s costar leading him to read into the smallest of behaviors. Latif’s approachability is what captures the audience first, but his actions are what slowly make you turn against him. The relatively chill aura combined with the man bun portray him as an unthreatening man, but his words and consequential actions leave you actively rooting against him.
The third act twist not only had my theater gasping at the reveal, but also cheering for what happened next. Anette invites Alicia over for dinner with her family to celebrate her daughter wrapping the project. Unbeknownst to Ben, her arrival was a calculated move by Anette as an attempt to reveal the truth behind their alleged affair. Instead of exposing an affair, Anette reveals to Alicia that Ben is delusional. After Alicia’s departure from dinner, Anette reveals herself to be the ultimate calculated manipulator. In an ending montage as Ben drives away from the house, it is shown that all the conversations and connections Ben had with Alicia were secretly his wife pulling the strings all along. The revelation is so shocking to Ben that he loses control of the car and crashes in the woods.
While Magpie doesn’t necessarily say anything new about long term partnership dynamics, it does put a magnifying glass on the idea of right and wrong. All parties in this film were guilty of doing something unsavory and none of them were entirely worth rooting for. In a world where media tries to paint things and black and white, Magpie dials in on the gray area.
Magpie is playing in theaters.
