Lotus Eaters

Lotus Eaters is a critical ode to the youthful decadence of affluent London socialites, built on a rampaging surfeit of photographic swagger. And it's the visual affectation of this film that renders it so interesting: there's no doubt that director Alexandra McGuinness and her cinematographer Gareth Munden are heavily influenced by the paragons of cinema history. It uses Kubrick’s tracking shots, Godard’s cut-up editing and the shaky action camera work that Visconti and Cuaron, among many others, have displayed a flair for. And all those techniques shot in black and white. This film is pretentious, but is there anything wrong with that? There’s no doubt that monochrome photography does look cool.

However that focus on a polished aesthetic seems to have been at the expense of anything much tangible. McGuinness said in an interview that she wanted Lotus Eaters to be character-driven not plot-driven and that is a stylistic choice evident, painfully so at times. The story concerns itself with Alice (Antonia Campbell-Hughes) and the minor existential crisis she experiences within general life and her relationship status. She is a model but looking to enter the acting profession whilst trying to save her drug addled boyfriend Charlie (Johnny Flynn), but lost in the thoughtless decadence of her reckless friends. Nothing really happens – it’s just a succession of parties and social gatherings at which the characters are fleshed out. But like The Room there are some ‘indifferent’ acting performances and iffy writing: the manipulative she-devil Orna is a case in point. Orna is the Cruella de Vil figure – predatory, black and platinum hair, fashion background – who acts as a kind of guardian angel to Felix. Her scenes though err on the cringeworthy – largely because of jarring dialogue and the incongruous sex appeal she exudes in waves. The writing also fails to capture the lustre of some pretty robust themes – anorexia, drug abuse overdose, rape allegations of rape. They’re all mentioned briefly suggested but never dealt with: instead they simmer away ineffectively in the background. Alice is clearly suffering from anorexia but, beyond a couple of momentary allusions to it, it affects nothing.

This isn’t to say there aren’t good bits. McGuinness’ writing conforms quite explicitly at the end to Greek tragedy – it is juxtaposed with the high-brow symbolism of a dying horse, the meaning of which I am not privy to. There’s a great line about trying to conceive a child out of sheer boredom which comes right out of the Austen draw of affluent folly. Music also plays an important role in summoning up the atmosphere of trendy: scenes of tension are punctuated by montaged party scenes of hip music – the London goth/post-punk band O Children make a surprise appearance in the festival scenes. In fact it was the copyrights to the soundtrack that prevented Lotus Eaters’ release in American cinemas until this year despite its first showing a couple of years ago.

Undoubtedly Lotus Eaters is at its strongest when dealing with the opulence – the scene where the group fill a bath with vodka is particularly memorable. Bella (Gina Bramhill) perfectly encapsulates the pervading spirit of rampant excess and fleeting juvenility in a dramatic soliloquy near the end. She strips and enunciates to her whacked out friends the glories of these days they’re living through, wishing the night would last forever in that kind of 19^th century Parisian ultra-idealistic way. Its observation is clear: in our retro-obsessed modern world the true belle époque is here and now. It’s a movie made from tumblr, like McGuinness stitched a load of black and white Instagram photographs together. A succession of beautiful people dealing with the pitfalls of the first world: drugs, relationships and fashion. Yes it’s a dreamlike vision, deliberately distorted to exaggerate a small cross-section of wealthy twenty-somethings, but nonetheless a curious watch. The essence of the movie is rooted in Greek literature. The title of course is named after the lotus eaters of Greek mythology who spent their decadent lives on an island of pleasure and paradise. This proves to be an apt title for McGuinness’ film.