Paul Mescal Showed a Much Darker Side in This Tense, Raw A24 Psychological Drama Co-Starring a 'Dune: Prophecy' Lead

If it was between giving up your returning son who you haven't seen for years, even if you knew he was guilty, or holding him accountable and losing him forever, what would you do? Well, before Paul Mescal and Emily Watson were freeing Rome from tyranny in Gladiator II or plotting to take over the Imperium in Dune: Prophecy respectively, they teamed up for God’s Creatures, and Watson's Aileen faced that exact issue. This grounded A24 drama follows Aileen after her son, Mescal’s Brian, is accused of raping a girl, Sarah (Aisling Franciosi), in a tight-knit Irish village. Pressured by Brian’s false alibi that he was with his mother at home rather than the pub with Sarah, Aileen must decide between family and justice.

Paul Mescal is so good in this film because he is very different to his sympathetic characters in Gladiator II and Normal People. Rather than being sensitive, he has this thin layer of bubbly friendliness that hides a darkness underneath, and frightens you when it reveals itself. Because of this, we feel Aileen's anxiety around her son, and through her perspective, we also understand why she wants to see the best in him.

Paul Mescal's Apathetic Performance is the Most Frightening Part of 'God's' Creatures'

What’s frightening about Mescal’s performance is how ready his character, Brian, is to move past the assault, and it then bleeds into how the rest of the town agree with him. In one infuriating scene where Sarah and her friend are refused service and mocked by the town, Brian doesn’t antagonize or say anything but simply ignores them, which is almost worse because he refuses to even acknowledge the person whose life he has ruined, almost like a psychopath. Rather than caring about how Sarah feels, he simply seems confused at the very idea that consequences would come his way, even if Sarah has been loyal to the town whereas Brian had left for years to go to Australia. Compare this to the sensitive Connell in Normal People, and Mescal is almost unrecognizable.

Despite this blasé attitude, there is a violent rage beneath Brian’s bubbly surface that puts you on edge. He is constantly breaking the law to make his life easier, such as when he steals another man's fish because his oyster farm won't be running for another year. Even his mother, Aileen, seems afraid of him, or at least afraid of the idea of what he might be, with the sound of drums permeating many of the scenes between the two that ratchet up our anxiety. The fact we don’t see the assault, but merely have to gauge what could have happened from Brian’s body language and approach to everything else makes it all the more frightening, as he never really tries to deny the assault, but gaslights his mother instead, finding it ridiculous he would be accused of a crime that he committed. In some scenes, he actually snaps at his mother, and we finally see the veneer of kindness fall.

Emily Watson Brilliantly Compliments Mescal's Performance By Letting Us View Him Through a Motherly Lens

Mescal’s performance is only made better by Emily Watson perfectly bouncing off of him, as we view him through her lens of sympathy and fear. The scenes between Brian and Paddy (Lalor Roddy), a member of the family who seems to have some kind of dementia, give us this innocent and kind look to Brian, as it’s only him who can get Paddy to acknowledge the world around him, and shows us the good that lurks in even the most horrible human beings. Truly, the scene of Brian getting Paddy to sing as Aileen watches is heartbreaking, as we can feel Aileen praying that this truly is her son, and he would never do such a horrible thing. In the end though, when Paddy dies, that is when our last sympathy for Brian goes, and we, like Aileen, are only left with Brian’s actions.

Overall, the highlight of God's Creatures has got to be Paul Mescal, because we get to see a darker side to him that you won't see in many of his other projects to date. His balance between apathy and rage not only puts us on edge, but truly shakes Aileen to her core. In the end, it is Watson's performance as a desperate mother wishing her son to be a good person that makes Mescal's even better, as without that lens we wouldn't feel so betrayed by Brian's actions.

God's Creatures is available to stream on Prime Video in the U.S.

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