Lurid mysteries abound in Chilean filmmaker Sebastián Lelio’s latest feature, “The Wonder.”
Starring “Don’t Worry Darling” and “Little Women” Oscar nominee Florence Pugh as an nurse tasked with caring for an ailing 11-year-old girl who’s inexplicably not eaten in four months, the first trailer showcases an atmospheric, 19th century tale with eerie twists and turns as Pugh nurse, the girl’s family and the townspeople around them fights to determine the young girl’s secret.
Per a logline from distributor Netflix, which debuted the film Sept. 2 at the Telluride Film Festival, “The Wonder” takes place in “1862, 13 years after the Great Famine. An English Nightingale Nurse Lib Wright (Florence Pugh) is called to the Irish Midlands by a devout community to conduct a 15-day examination over one of their own. Anna O’Donnell (Kíla Lord Cassidy) is an 11-year-old girl who claims not to have eaten for four months, surviving miraculously on ‘manna from heaven.’ As Anna’s health rapidly deteriorates, Lib is determined to unearth the truth, challenging the faith of a community that would prefer to stay believing.”
Lelio is one of today’s most prominent filmmakers out of Chile. His breakout film, “A Fantastic Woman,” won the 2018 Academy Award for best foreign language film.
For “The Wonder,” he writes with co-writers Alice Birch and Emma Donaghue, basing their script on the 2016 novel by Donaghue, author of “Room,” which was itself adapted into an Oscar-winning film in 2015. The author and screenwriter will also executive produce alongside Len Blavatnik and Danny Cohen.
Along with Pugh, rounding out the cast for “The Wonder” are Tom Burke, Niamh Algar, Elaine Cassidy, Kíla Lord Cassidy, Toby Jones, Ciarán Hinds (who was Oscar nominated for his supporting performance last year in “Belfast”), Dermot Crowley, Brían F. O’Byrne and David Wilmot.
“The Wonder” will be released in theaters on Nov. 2 and stream on Netflix Nov. 16.
Watch the trailer above.
