M, 126 minutes
3 Stars
Review by © Jane Freebury
This family drama about two brothers is set in a fraught and complicated masculine world. The anemone flower that their late father was fond of represents a link between very different men who are two sides of the same coin.
It has been 20 years since Jem (Sean Bean) saw his brother, Ray, who lives an isolated existence deep in the forest, a place that Jem needs coordinates to locate. As he stands in the doorway of the cottage on arrival, not a single word of greeting is exchanged. Simple gestures do the work instead. A wooden log, the only chair for visitors it seems, is placed at the table and whiskey poured to kickstart the communication between the two. Daniel Day-Lewis has made an exciting return to the screen as ornery, volatile Ray.
It’s time for these brothers to get sorted for once. There’s a young man in the family, Brian (Samuel Bottomley), who has run into serious trouble and needs Ray’s support and guidance. Jem has a note to deliver to Ray, his natural father, from the lad’s mother Nessa (Samantha Morton) who has raised him with Jem as surrogate Dad.
It is a slow reveal of this delicate situation among blokes who are disinclined to say much. The camera takes its time too, in no hurry to deliver close-ups of faces, happy to stand back instead and watch the characters from a distance. The recurrent image of backs of heads is an odd motif though the filmmaker’s intention in suggesting characters reluctant to be open with each other is clear enough.
When Day-Lewis’ famous features finally appear in the frame, it is reassuring to see that in his late sixties the actor has not lost the dangerous glint in his eye or his proud bearing. Let’s admit that his presence is, after all, one of the main reasons that we have taken ourselves along to see Anemone.
A familiar dangerous glint in the eye and proud bearing
After concluding a brilliant career in very diverse roles for which he has won a record three Oscars for best actor out of six nominations, Daniel Day-Lewis has returned from the retirement he announced seven years ago. Mind you, he is the kind of mercurial figure from whom we can safely expect a bit of deviation.
As the wayward brother and father who deserted his partner and baby son, Day-Lewis shows he can still summon a fierce, raw intensity. On a couple of occasions, he delivers a searing monologue that is painfully graphic and shocking. His description of the payback he exacted for sexual predation by the Church stands out, as does his description of first-hand experience of war in Northern Ireland when he was a sergeant in the British army during the vicious years of the Troubles. Thematically, it is a reminder of how certain institutions have let young men down.
Brooding silences to searing monologues
Daniel Day-Lewis still throws himself into his roles. Who can forget hearing how he stayed in character after the day’s shoot on My Left Foot was done, remaining in a wheelchair during production?
In preparation for Anemone, he took up the physical demands of survival in the woods. Not so different from the regime he imposed on himself to look convincing as a man who could hunt, build a canoe and wield a musket in The Last of the Mohicans. Here in Anemone, Day-Lewis Snr certainly looks strong and limber as he swims, hikes, runs, and wrestles and shows he is comfortable handling a crossbow.
Anemone has been a long-term project for young Ronan Day-Lewis, a visual artist and one of Daniel’s three sons, who worked with his father on the screenplay. It is the first feature film for Ronan, who has brought his painterly and youthful sensibility to bear on the beautiful, moody imagery of wild spaces on location in Northern England, and has added a pulsing score.
Day-Lewis has been a great actor over his long career. Bold in choosing difficult roles in the indie sector like My Left Foot and My Beautiful Laundrette early on, and completely able to command high-stakes drama like The Last of the Mohicans, The Age of Innocence, Lincoln and There Will Be Blood.
Anemone is a personal project, and he is one of the best things about it.
First published in the Canberra Times on 13 March 2026. Also published on Rotten Tomatoes