‘Enys Men’ is an experimental horror film that follows the Volunteer, - a woman living on an uninhabited island off the Cornish coast as she devotes her time to wildlife observation. Her daily routine takes a strange turn as reality transforms around her, creating a metaphysical journey for her and the audience.
Depicting the daily routine for the Volunteer, the film follows the woman (Mary Woodvine) as she meticulously records temperature readings and observations for a plant growing on the edge of the island. Following the Volunteer for a few days, her routine further reveals a quiet life in a contained environment, - showing her work a ham radio to get in touch with the coast, reading at leisure and taking in her surroundings.
A young girl is shown interacting with the Volunteer on occasion, as they exchange few words, mostly serving to accentuate the stillness of her life on the island. After some time, the Volunteer begins noticing changes with the plant, as she also goes through a change, - a scar across her abdomen begins developing lichen, just as the flowers become overgrown with the organism.
Soon, the Volunteer begins to experience shifts in time, showing her to be the young girl depicted earlier, revealing a sailor to have drowned in the nearby bay the Volunteer had known and splicing in images of miners in the nearby mines. The film culminates in a meditative observation of the island, showing the Volunteer and her surroundings.
Initially soothing, ‘Enys Men’ opens as a meditative observation of the Volunteer, - her simple and quiet life. Almost working up to a state of tedium, the film introduces variations and skips in time, ultimately leading to a culmination of the Volunteers imagination and reality overlapping, crescendoing in a disorienting mash-up of scenes that is alleviated by a quiet observation of the island on the films conclusion.
Through the use of 16mm film, the creator of ‘Enys Men’ (Mark Jenkin) delivers a film with a strong feel of the past, placing the movie squarely in the 70’s and providing for a strong feel of seclusion, as the Volunteers sole lifeline to the outside world is transmitted through the ham radio. Further isolating the main character, frequent cuts to the harsh environment, and particularly the sea further segregate Woodvine’s Volunteers from everybody else, allowing for a degree of separation both from the outside world and reality itself.
Contemplative, the Volunteers interactions with the young girl, later to be revealed as her past self, are illustrative of her inclination to dwell on the past, religiously reminding herself not to go atop the house where she had fallen from, being the cause of the scar across her body. The film does not depict Woodvine’s character as being excessively sorrowful of the incident, yet still imposing an urgency in her reminders, implying a desperate want to be able to change the past.
Unrelenting, the film reveals a world of emotion as the Volunteer begins experiencing shifts in time. Inter-spliced with her daily routine, the Volunteer is revealed to have known the Boatman who had drowned quite intimately. Playing with the chronological order of events, Jenkin manages to deliver a simple matter-of-fact things in a manner that is both surprising and unexpected, retaining an unexpected turn to what may initially have appeared as a mundane expression of a woman’s memories of her past.
Unconventional and striking, ‘Enys Men’ sets off in a quiet, unostentatious manner, delivering what may be perceived as a deep examination of solitude and reflection of a woman’s journey in her life up until and including this point. What the film reveals itself to be turns the concept inside out, delivering sill and examination of the woman’s life, but in an unconventional and at times very extreme manner, providing of a memorable and intriguing experience.
Score: 4/4
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