The movie adaptation of “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” the 2003 novel of American author Lionel Shriver is the winner of the best film at the 55th BFI London Film Festival Wednesday. The novel won the Orange Prize for fiction in 2005.
The film described as an unflinching portrayal of a mother’s troubled relationship with her son featured Oscar winner Tilda Swinton, starring as Eva, Kevin’s mother
Kevin (Ezra Miller), 15, commits a massacre at his high school and goes to jail. Stunned, his mother, Eve (Tilda Swinton) can only react to tragedy when it begins to correspond with her husband, Franklin (John C. Reilly), who lives far and recalls the boy’s troubled past.
“We Need to Talk about Kevin” premiered at the last Cannes Film Festival was directed by Scottish film maker Lynne Ramsay. It beat eight other films, including Russian Alexander Sokurov’s Faust that won the Golden Lion at the 68th Venice International Film Festival.
“In the end, we were simply bowled over by one film, a sublime, uncompromising tale of the torment that can stand in the place of love,” said John Madden, chair of the judging panel.
“‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’ is made with the kind of singular vision that links great directors across all the traditions of cinema.”
The festival closes Thursday evening with a gala screening of “The Deep Blue Sea,” Terence Davies’ adaptation of Terence Rattigan’s play starring Rachel Weisz.
~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima with contributions from Mike Collett-White.