Companion

Companion poster

The memory of their first meeting in the produce aisle of the supermarket as fresh as when it first happened, Iris is as devoted to and as enchanted by her boyfriend Josh now as that moment when he smiled at her after tumbling an entire display of citrus fruit onto the ground, trusting him completely and going along with him to a weekend far from the city despite her apprehension, not knowing some of his friends who will be there and believing those she does know don’t like her.

Iris presenting herself as demure, pretty but not overwhelming and certainly not threatening, the glamazon Kat and her creepy married millionaire boyfriend Sergey barely register her presence, though Eli and his boyfriend Patrick are more amenable, but despite Josh’s directive for her to just smile and act happy, Iris is uneasy, particularly when finding herself alone with Sergei by the lakeside, defending herself with a flick knife she finds in her pocket, unsure how it got there…

Companion; smelling a peach and smiling at a stranger, a happy memory for Iris (Sophie Thatcher).

Written and directed by Drew Hancock with Lower Decks’ Jack Quaid as Josh and Heretic’s Sophie Thatcher as Iris, she is the Companion of the title, Kat (Megan Suri) complaining that Sergey (Rupert Friend) sees her as an accessory rather than a human being but Iris always the one who is in the room with the others yet never part of what is happening, spoken about but rarely to, told her opinion rather than asked, Josh’s idea of a perfect girlfriend and expected to do as asked and never lie to him.

The dead body cooling by the lakeside a complication, those paying close attention to the dialogue in the opening scenes of Companion will see the clues before the early reveal that all is not what it seems, but rather than a single swift pull of the rug it is the first twitch of the carpet loosely tacked to a set of winding stairs, the film not dependent on a single twist rather than a series of revelations as Josh and Kat’s carefully planned weekend becomes increasingly frustrated.

Companion; their weekend plans crumbling before their eyes, Josh and Kat (Jack Quaid and Megan Suri) find another distressing problem.

Iris’ role intended to be compliant and cooperative, attractive to the eye but never a challenge to the mind, as meek and docile as a wife from Stepford and her driving purpose to make Josh happy, developing agency as a consequence of circumstances Josh’s own control diminishes in proportion, small wonder considering the lack of balance in a relationship supposedly built on trust, Iris finding her identity is built around memories which she comes to realise are unreliable even though, like Chekhov’s gun, everything which will be important is laid on the table early on.

With Quaid unravelling from affable to vicariously homicidal and Thatcher honest in every emotion of confusion, sadness and rage, Companion is complex even as it tells its story of gaslighting and manipulation in a straightforward manner, a country house mystery where the motive, the weapon the murderer are all apparent but the question is who will take the blame, the intended alibi to be provide by the presence of Eli and Patrick (Harvey Gullén and Lukas Gage) quickly compromised and enough blood for it to be on everybody’s hands.

Companion is currently on general release and also screening in IMAX

Companion; Patrick (Lukas Gage) silently watching, Josh and Kat (Jack Quaid and Megan Suri) play out the end game of their relationship.

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