Being ambitious is a great thing. It is what drives a person to keep on moving ahead in life and their career. But there comes a moment when you need to have consciousness of where that determination to succeed is leading you exactly. And the most important part is to know when to stop once you have it all. But in Sean Durkin’s The Nest, having it all is never enough.
Set in the 1980s, Rory O’Hara (Jude Law) is an Englishman, living in New York City with his American wife Allison (Carrie Coon) and their children Ben (Charlie Shotwell) and Samantha (Oona Roche). Believing his opportunities in the U.S. have dried up, Rory, a trader by profession, convinces Allison to abandon the sanctuary of their safe suburban surroundings and relocate to London to explore new business opportunities at his old firm. But soon the family is plunged into the despair of an archaic Britain and their unaffordable new life in an English manor, which is threatening to destroy the family.
Rory is a master at bullshiting. That’s his constant mode. Given his surroundings, he can switch gears into his delusions. He is shown overspending, time and time again, for his appearance of wealth. He enrolls Samantha and Ben in expensive private schools while expressing how they should be lucky and thankful about it, because he only dreamed of going to a place like that. Though annoying, Rory has a certain charm. You can see the twitch of hunger hidden behind his sly smile. He is an addict, looking for his next score. He is built on the false promises that capitalism has provided him with. His life in New York is what many dream of having, but the rooted stability chafes him, as he uproots his family’s happiness, for his seemingly never-ending desire for materials that he thinks will make him happy.
From early on, Durkin shows the thin cracks in Rory and Allison’s marriage, which he structurally builds on top of the last scene. He shows a worried Alison caught in the middle of Rory’s mess, who has chewed more than he can bite off. Alison’s trust in Rory, especially in handling money, is slim to none. Initially, Allison reluctantly goes along with Rory’s charade. She even plays the doting wife he can parade around at high-class parties for his new colleagues. With a marriage that was already walking on thin ice, soon it starts to show big cracks by deteriorating into deep resentment. Allison reaches her breaking point with Rory, whose mighty ambitions have started to threaten the balance of their family, leaving them financially bankrupt and emotionally distraught.
Cinematographer Mátyás Erdély captures the uninviting and never changing cold environment of London. As if, speaking to the family, it is they who have to adapt to this brutal infrastructure that coats in a woozy and fragile sheet. Keeping the story straightforward, Durkin tethers into his character’s changing identities. He captures the subtle nuances, the slightest eye movements, and hand gestures, while playing with what’s going on under the surface of this family.
Coming to the performances, Law flawlessly personifies Rory, who is trying to scrub off the stains of his past self that he can’t bear to face. He stands on the empty promises, by comfortably bullshiting his way into whoever gives him the time. He accumulates more losses than he ever gained. His concern with representation threatens what he wants to become but not knowing what he wants while everyone around him sufferers the consequences. Coon on the other hand fires her way into Allison, by steadily releasing her character’s frustration in full spotlight with her rage on full display. She is not interested in playing games anymore as she lets Law’s Rory down with pure savagery in a key dinner scene.
Overall, The Nest is a great follow up to Durkin’s masterful Martha Marcy May Marlene. It is a martial drama that becomes more claustrophobic by ratcheting up the tension of its character’s universal motivations. And Law and Coon are in their masterful best, giving two of the strongest performances of the year. The Nest surely becomes a force to be reckoned with and is highly recommended.
