This film has been maligned because the director previously directed a "Bridget Jones" movie. Yes, those movies were shallow, but this film "Incendiary" has a few decent points, and Michelle Williams is worth watching.
Basically a neglected housewife who's son and husband are in a soccer match in Chelsea when an act of terrorism is committed. The daily life scenes as we see her apartment and her husbands UN-glamorous job as a bomb prevention specialist are realistic. The beach scenes with her little boy are relate-able without being overly dramatic.
The "letter to Osama" suggested by a hospital nurse is a ridiculous statement to say to a grieving mother who has lost her son and husband. Especially in a random act of terrorism. No doubt anyone who has lost a loved one will agree with this. The grief Michelle Williams emotes is believable here, she is alienated and dissociated from the world around her.
Yes the scene with the stuffed rabbit is a ploy we have seen, but it is believable. A person in this situation is not going to sit in group therapy and want to share all the pain and horror they have just witnessed. The pain is at first internalized and sometimes hidden from the outside world.
The Ewan McGregor character, who has an affair with the grieving mother at the time the incident occurs, seems to be added in at the last minute and extraneous. Other than driving her to the scene of the bombing and visiting her once at the hospital he does not seem to contribute very much to the overall story.
The visuals are very good, the gritty streets of London and the building she lives in, versus the Welllington building of the upper class.
The story itself is worth watching and Michelle Williams gives a sympathetic and nice understated performance here. Don't discount this film. Recommended. 8/10.
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