In recent years, there has been an uptick in period lesbian romances. Ammonite, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, The Favourite, and Carol immediately come to mind. The World to Come is the latest to join the repertoire, bringing with it a quiet sense of longing and much-needed affection. The World to Come has the ingredients to build a blossoming love story, but the script is thin and far too rigid for the romance to ever fully soar.
Directed by Mona Fastvold and set in Northeast America during the 19th century, Abigail (Katherine Waterston) lives a quiet and rather solitary life as a farmer’s wife, tending to the household and maintaining the ledgers for her distant husband Dyer (Casey Affleck). Abigail is living through her sadness and the monotony of daily life when she is introduced to her new neighbor Tallie (Vanessa Kirby). The two find solace in each other’s company as Tallie abandons her household duties, at least according to her very strict and angry husband, Finney (Christopher Abbott). Over the course of several months, Abigail and Tallie’s friendship develops into a strong attraction as they fall in love, a romance which is strengthened by an indelible connection.
There is a lot to be said about The World to Come and most of it isn't great. The film’s screenplay, written by Ron Hansen and Jim Shepard (who also wrote the story it’s based on), is incredibly tedious. Rather than show the natural passage of time through the season, Abigail’s voiceovers indicate what events happened on which dates. It’s cumbersome and adds nothing to the story itself. Additionally, her voiceover does a lot of the narrative’s heavy lifting, telling rather than showing. There are details in there that would have served the story and its characters better, as well as added more depth, if they’d been allowed to play out onscreen.
The World to Come is also limited by its stiffness. The unwillingness to move away from its structure — stonily habitual, harsh, distant — creates a cold detachment to the story that never thaws. To be sure, Waterston and Kirby have a tremendous amount of chemistry. Their budding relationship and sexual tension anchors the story that is often preoccupied with other things, including a strange focus on Dyer’s aloofness that never really goes anywhere. Abigail and Tallie are opposites: the former is quiet and reserved, while Tallie is more free-spirited, too often encumbered by her husband. Together, they open up in more ways than one and there are moments of beauty in the incredibly brief amount of time the romance exists.
That said, the film is so slow in pace that it threatens to stop the story in its tracks. Abigail and Tallie skirt around each other, sending each other longing looks that are meant to signal their romantic feelings and build upon their developing relationship. However, it becomes a chore to watch since not much happens beyond that, with The World to Come hindered by an excruciatingly dull buildup that lacks the intensity required to see it through. Forbidden love and period romances are not meant to replace a burgeoning, potent desire and sumptuous declarations. It’s as though the film is stumped when it comes to creating an interesting romance, seemingly relying on the confines of the time period to excuse the lack of flirtation, intimacy, and depth that such a story needs.
Perhaps the rigidity of the narrative is meant to reflect the 19th century harshness of society, but The World to Come never fully contends with any of it. Rather, the film chooses to rely on certain conformities to create contrived obstacles for the couple that are barely developed and are only ramped up when needed for dramatic effect. The film ultimately has little to offer in the way of full-blown romance and leaves a lot to be desired in its storytelling avenues.
The World to Come opens in select theaters on February 12 and will be available on demand and digital on March 2, 2021. The film is 98 minutes long and is rated R for some sexuality/nudity.
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