Faces are saved, just barely, while bodies are utterly destroyed in "Wild House," a caustic and humorous tale of pretense, extravagance, and the literally maddening pressures of the English class ladder, written and directed with surgical brutality, it turns out, by an American. Released 12 years after his debut, the derivative indie romantic comedy "The Longest Week," Peter Glanz's second feature is a far sharper and more sophisticated work, even if it makes little attempt to hide its dependence on "The Favourite" and other caustic costume films of its ilk. Enthusiastically played by Richard E. Grant and Claire Foy as a pair of Georgian grotesques who sacrifice everything to host the dinner party of their dreams, the film draws a strange poignancy from the smallness of the stakes and the severity of the consequences.
This unexpectedly apt pairing will be the main draw of Wild House, which opens in theaters this Friday, just two days after its world premiere at SXSW in London—though it's a rather odd summer release, with no pre-release hype or festival tailwind. The film's cold, grisly atmosphere may provoke a mixed reaction; the same can be said for its uncompromisingly horrific characters. Glantz gleefully relishes their suffering, to the point of reminiscent of Roald Dahl's The Twits (albeit with a far more refined veneer), and how much you share that relish will determine your experience. Either way, the film's uncompromising commitment to its queasy comic tone and atmosphere is impressive, as is its modestly budgeted but claustrophobicly detailed recreation of the rot of an 18th-century pseudo-genteel slum.
More from Variety
-
Tom Quinn of Neon praised "Obsession" and "Backrooms": "I don't see it as YouTube or anything, I see it as cinema.".
-
All3Media CEO Jane Turton on the Banijay merger: "Scale is important, but we need to understand why scale matters.".
-
The Russo brothers said that Robert Downey Jr.'s Doom suit in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is their favorite, and that it "captures the most amazing aspects" of Doctor Doom.
The right atmosphere of expensive decay is created from the outset by cinematographer Adriano Goldman—an Emmy-winning visionary who lit Foy to far greater advantage on The Crown—whose stark interior compositions are immersed in a deep, oil-slick darkness at all hours. This better conceals the cracks, dust, and grime of the seemingly stately mansion belonging to the aristocratic Lady Savage (Foy) and her gold-digging husband, Sir Chauncey (Grant), and also emphasizes the ghostly effect of their ever-present makeup and wigs, which resemble ash clouds.
Ultimately, it's all a sham for the couple, who are on the brink of bankruptcy thanks to Chauncey's reckless spending, drinking, and gambling; Lady Savage was once captivated by her working-class ex-husband's womanizing ways, though she's now engaged in a torrid affair with his handsome valet, Halifax (Jack Farthing), one of the three servants they can still afford. He, meanwhile, is having a similar affair with her maid, Dorothy (Bel Powley), so it's understandable. Amid all this adult turmoil, their withdrawn teenage daughter, Fanny (Kyla Lord Cassidy), is fascinated by astronomy and her pet rats, somewhat wary of the money pit that will one day become hers.
The Savages' social standing has been so eroded that only their equally awful and greedy neighbors, the Bennetts (Richard McCabe and Vicki Pepperdine, both very funny), will socialize with them. But a chance for redemption appears when they receive a letter from the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, a highly respected couple of prominent aristocrats, essentially inviting themselves to stay for the evening. Believing this could catapult them into the upper crust, the Savages begin spending nearly all their remaining money preparing their estate and themselves for this opportunity. It doesn't matter that Lady Savage must sell her precious family jewels to afford more grandiose and ostentatious displays of wealth, or that Chauncey's gout is rapidly worsening: just pull a fluffy sleeve over the festering wound and hope for the best.
Of course, the thing is, it only takes a little to ruin the veneer of well-being, and it's clear from the start that even the couple's most ill-advised plans can unravel into a sordid farce of duels, illnesses, and disappointments. There's plenty of fun in all of this, particularly in Glantz's acerbic, caustic dialogue, aided by some excellent casting. Grant, after all, seems tailor-made for delivering lines like, "No self-respecting gentleman knows his bank account," and Foy clearly relishes playing a more venomous variety of English rose than usual—one who, when her daughter complains about feeling like property to be sold to the highest bidder, snaps back, "Tragic as it may be, that's the way it is.".
Their performances give Wild House much of its vibrancy, as well as a tiny glimmer of humanity: these people may be ghouls, but there's something recognizable in their bleak desperation to impress strangers for popularity, largely because the world hasn't changed all that much in the last 300 years. There's a certain monotony to the film's comedy that gradually, even deliberately, grows harsher over the course of its two hours, but the sad, brash, and gradually diminishing dimensions of the characters at the center of the plot hold your attention. Like the luxurious, spoiled mise-en-scène , which captures the Savages in all their pathetic contradictions: rich and tasteless, big and small, ugly and beautiful, insignificant and greedily striving for more.
The best of variety
-
What's Coming to Disney+ in June 2026?
-
What's Coming to Netflix in June 2026?
-
Tony Awards Predictions: Early Predictions Including 'Death of a Salesman' and 'The Lost Boys,' Plus Possible Records for Squibb, Lithgow, and Apple.
Subscribe to the Variety newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.