The Thing with Feathers (15) Film Review
Dir: Dylan Southern, UK, 2025, 104 mins
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Sam Spruell, Vinette Robinson
Review by .Carol Allen
Dad is a children’s author and a graphic artist but he is given no name. We only know him as Dad. He has two small sons, also only known as Boy 1 and Boy 2, who are played by real-life brothers Richard and Henry Boxall.
The film is based on a novel Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter – a title which tells you, if you hadn’t already guessed, that the crow is a visual and mental metaphor for grief, guilt and regret. It’s a gift of a part for an actor and Cumberbatch seizes the opportunity with both hands and plumbs the depths of tortured grief with such enthusiasm to the extent that, good though the performance is, there’s little space for variation. Lots of emotion but very few moments of quiet reflection. When the metaphor works dramatically however it works very well, particularly in a scene where Dad is pursued by the crow in his imagination during the mundane act of shopping in the supermarket. Very scary.
It is though rather irritating that neither Dad nor his sons are given names. Indeed we never hear names either of the various other characters who drift in and out of the story – Dad’s brother (Sam Spruell), who is understandably worried about him; a concerned looking, bespectacled fellow who appears to be a psychiatrist (Leo Bill); the deceased wife’s best friend (Vinette Robinson); – it is indeed sometimes tricky to know who they are. The characters who make the most impression are the late wife’s parents (Garry Cooper and Lesley Moloney), who obviously adore their grandsons.
But though we see a lot of what’s going on inside Dad’s head, we never get got any significant shots of Mum – just occasional vague images, whereas a clearer visual memory would have helped. If director Dylan Southern couldn’t or wouldn’t give us an actual memory sequence, surely there should be some family photos of her around the now dishevelled and neglected home?
