Daphné

I have a friend who I always thought as a liberal version of myself who live as what other people think about him doesn't matter which is the only major difference I see between him and myself. While watching Daphne I was thinking here is a female version of him. So extending that in a way Daphne was a very relatable experience to me. Emily Beecham is incredible as the confused and miserable Daphne who quotes Zizak and Freud but doesn't know if that really means anything to her. Exposing her as almost a bitch character and slowly showing her life where she doesn't find any meaning and to an extent just want to run away from everything and doesn't want to find anything. The only problem I have with the film is that it ended too soon, they should have explored a bit more of her life and thoughts or maybe it was perfect and I just want life to be bigger than it is while it isn't and never really taking an initiative to make it just like Daphne.

Daphne is a timeless British film. By which I mean it could have pretty much been made at any time in the last 50 years, and be just as 'meh.' It's one of those films that turns up on the telly and you look at the fashion and the streets but wonder why you're actually watching. It's a slight tale of a rather unlikable lonely girl who doesn't really know what to do with her life. Emily Beecham gives a believable performance but with a male writer and male director it is ultimately a bloke's fantasy idea of a 20something single girl about town. Everyone spouts their arch clever philosophies but anything that happens to Daphne doesn't really seem to affect her. That said, she's probably hardened by all those ghosts she used to hunt (which has clearly had an effect) and I applaud the film-maker's willingness to hold back Fred, Shaggy and Velma until the sequel.

Seen at the Viennale 2017: Seems to be a new trend. To follow female young women with close-up camera through their daily life's. Has something to do with new camera techniques, I assume. Because faces of people can tell stories of their own, somebody can make easily a "character study" instead of a well told story with interesting characters. I appreciate that such movies are a psychological help for up-growing young girls (I hope they find their way to pictures like this). But for an adult they are quite boring. Daphne is the typical woman, more on the conservative side of thinking. A girl of our day. I can watch character studies of them all around me, without going to the movies...

Ignore all the reviews calling it boring, empty etc, written I assume by people that like explosions and flashing things but can't invest a little bit of effort in trying to appreciate a film that attempts to provoke thought and discussion

Performances are excellent especially from Emma Beecham, I sometimes had to remind myself this was a scripted film, so natural was her portrayal of Daphne - I mean is she really just Daphne filmed fly on the wall?? Brilliant

I loved her kind of offhand 'acting' complete with lines delivered so life like it was hard to tell if she had just come up with that stuff - and the direction where actors dialogue is left to happen in a very natural way - stunted, overlaps, talk overs - hard to act, and you can see some actors struggling with it, defaulting to more polished delivery.

I was drawn in by Daphne's frustrating, abrasive character and her descent in to self loathing - she's not easy to like, but that's the point - why is she like this, why does she not care about herself or much else

The film has a few clunky parts, like the psychiatrist for example, and some of the script and character development is under cooked but maybe that kind of fits with the impressionistic feel - over all the film offers real rewards for those willing to really watch and listen

Daphne (Emily Beecham) is a woman living in London. She's a struggling sous chef. She has many one night stands. She has drifted from her friends. She's estranged from her mother who is revealed to have cancer. She does drugs but mostly she's a drunk. One night, she's in a corner store when a robber comes in and stabs the cashier.

This is a fine character study. However, I do want more from this movie. It needs a second main character. Probably, it needs the mother to have more screen time. It needs to be a character relationship study as well as a character study. Other relationships could have been the main subject matter. This movie drifts. I don't mind drifting through her life but it could have been more.