PG, 100 minutes

3 Stars

Review by © Jane Freebury

There’s a wet welcome on offer at this remote island off the coast of Wales with neither a landing jetty nor sheltering harbour. To disembark, visitors are obliged to leap off their boat into the shallows. With any luck they will manage to keep their belongings dry, if not their trousers.

There is a very wet welcome for singer-songwriter Herb McGwyer (Tom Basden) when he arrives in the old runabout that provides a ferry shuttle service, ‘sometimes’. Predictably, it must be said, he loses his footing and tumbles in as his host Charles (Tim Key) wades towards him. The musician will have to accustom himself to being wet, wet, wet for the duration of his stay. The shoot took place over a chilly summer in Wales.

There are certain compensations for Herb, however, in this gentle, awkward relationship comedy. His host, another solitary individual, a super-fan devoted to Herb’s music, has all the vinyl, and the discarded guitars. And Charles has come good with the incredibly generous fee he offered as an inducement. Herb only needs to perform one gig on the nearby beach.

A singer-songwriter at the crossroad becomes a house guest of his number one fan

If Herb feels chuffed at having a fan who is kindly, attentive and enthusiastic to a fault, he has to make some adjustments. A widower and retired former nurse, Charles is one of life’s eccentrics. Ever present, a chatterbox, and font of lame jokes of the ‘Dame Judi Drenched’ variety. Unknown to Herb, his former other half has also been invited to visit.

It is Charles’s cherished dream that his idol will get back together with Nell (Carey Mulligan), the other half of the music duo, McGwyer Mortimer, who made the music that he once loved. While it may seem that the main character here is a singer-songwriter at a crossroads in his career and personal life, I’d say that the lonely eccentric, a two-time lottery winner who has everything money can buy, is the most interesting character.

Let’s be clear, Charles can definitely get on your nerves. His wordplay is clunky, rather than funny. It may have been just the kind of thing that worked with patients in need of a laugh.

There is a spirit of generosity and forbearance in The Ballad of Wallis Island, however. The comedy is kind and loyal to all its characters, to a fault, except for Nell’s husband, Michael (Akemnji Ndifornyen), who, after he conveniently disappears to go bird watching, returns telling Herb what he thinks of him.

This narrative appeared in short film format with the same title back in 2007. It involved the same key creatives, Basden and Key, and director James Griffith. Basden and Key, each of whom are artists in their own right, have co-written the feature screenplay set on the same fictional island.

A lonely eccentric who has everything money can buy

Carey Mulligan joined the cast for the feature, bringing with her considerable heft as an actor from strong, high-profile films like Shame, Drive and Promising Young Woman. As a forthright character, she brings gristle to the drama but doesn’t stay for long. She recognises exactly where she is at. A married woman who has quit the music business and makes chutney to sell at farmer’s markets back home in Portland, Oregon.

The other significant female character is Amanda (Sian Clifford), a single mother who runs the local shop. She brings a down-to-earth sensibility and countervailing presence. She likes ABBA, and has never even heard of McGwyer Mortimer but her teenage son has, at least.

The original score is composed and performed by Basden, accompanied at times by Mulligan as they perform in lovely harmony together. It creates a cosy backdrop. Other times we hear the duo’s back catalogue from Charles’ turntable.

Someone, like me, who has probably seen too many movies, may have found themselves suddenly alert to the dramatic possibilities of an isolated, obsessive ‘number one fan’. They may have had the thought that in other hands this story could have been given a nasty twist. After all, the setting lends itself. An isolated, coastal mansion where a man lives alone with his obsessions.

Thankfully, there is nothing like that, in this slight, downbeat tale that runs on kindness.

First published in the Canberra Times on 29 August 2025. Also published on Rotten Tomatoes