The Green Knight

This intriguing and unique film is likely to divide audiences between those that think it’s too slow, self-indulgent and pretentious, and those who think it’s a fascinating character study exploring concepts like the fragility of the male ego and its need for external validation. Either way, there’s no denying that this dark take on the Arthurian legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is visually stunning and incredibly atmospheric.

Premise: Gawain (Dev Patel), nephew to the aging King Arthur (Sean Harris), drifts aimlessly through his life in Camelot, waiting for his chance for achieve greatness and to become a Knight of the Round Table. When the supernatural Green Knight lays down a challenge to Arthur’s court, Gawain accepts with barely a second thought as to the consequences that he will have to face in a year’s time. On his eventual journey to fulfil his vow, he faces a series of encounters that test his character.

Review:

Given that this film is based on the 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, it seems odd to try to avoid spoilers, but I’ll assume that not everyone is familiar with this particular Arthurian legend already. Equally, while writer/director David Lowery’s film is in some ways very faithful to the original story, it’s also unquestionably a fresh reinterpretation of the source material in other respects, especially in relation to the final act (which I’ll come to shortly).

One obvious change is that in this film, Gawain is not yet a knight. In many ways, this is critical to one of the central themes of the film, which is Gawain’s need for external validation. When the film opens, it’s clear that he’s spent his life so far waiting for others to tell him he’s ready to achieve something, and waiting for others to define his own self-worth. When he’s asked by an aging King Arthur to tell a story about himself so that the King may know him better, Gawain confesses that he has no stories to tell. Later on, when he’s describing to a character why he wants to show that he’s an honourable man worthy of becoming a knight, the other character challenges him subtly by questioning how being made a knight will change Gawain from the man that stands before him now. Gawain, of course, has no answer to that question, but it’s central to his character’s need to define himself by how others see him, and by what legacy he will leave behind.

“…Dev Patel’s performance captures all of the contradictory aspects of Gawain’s character…”

This film is arguably not the most accessible of films, in that it deals in metaphors and thematic concerns more than it deals with grounded or relatable characters, and that may be a sticking point for many viewers. But if you can embrace its otherworldly, mythical tone, underneath all of the layers is a character study of Gawain that’s as applicable to any 21st century person as it is to a wannabe Knight of the Round Table. The themes that the film deals with – how to define one’s worth, whether we do noble things for their own sake or for external recognition, and what are the truly important things in life – are explored through the medium of this dark medieval allegory, but ultimately are very universal questions.

Dev Patel is fantastic in the lead role as Gawain, and he needs to be, given that he carries the entire film. What’s fascinating about Dev Patel’s performance is that it captures all of the contradictory aspects of Gawain’s character – his bravery and his cowardice, his confidence and his insecurities – and he manages to make Gawain both deeply flawed, and very relatable.

“…perhaps the Arthurian film adaptation that I’ve enjoyed the most in the last twenty years…”

Alicia Vikander also does a lot with her limited screen time as a prostitute who is the only person that Gawain appears to have a genuine connection to, but who Gawain refuses to publicly recognise for fear of how that would reflect on him. With the exception of Alicia Vikander, almost every actor in the film is playing a walking metaphor rather than a grounded character. Sean Harris plays the ailing King Arthur as a waning influence, representing the diminishing power of man in the face of everlasting nature, personified by the supernatural Green Knight (played by Ralph Ineson). Barry Keoghan, Erin Kellyman and Joel Edgerton all play various characters that Gawain meets on his journey to fulfil his oath, but they all represent personifications of the lessons that Gawain needs to learn, rather than fully realised characters in their own right.

None of which is a criticism, as this is a clear stylistic decision – the film is, after all, based on a 14th morality tale, and so was never going to be a kitchen sink grounded drama. In fact, in that respect, this is the perhaps the Arthurian film adaptation that I’ve enjoyed the most in the last twenty years precisely because it strives to capture that dark, melancholic, fantasy tone of the classic Arthurian legends, instead of trying to “update” the tone for modern audiences, like the 2004 Antoine Fuqua/Clive Owen version or the 2017 Guy Ritchie/Charlie Hunnam version of the King Arthur legend.

“…the final shot was what kept the movie in my mind long after the end credits rolled…”

One aspect that has been updated, however, is the final act. Without getting into spoilers, I think the decision to update the ending was the right one, because it really brings home the central themes of the story in a much more impactful way. In fact, I will say that the very end of the film took me by surprise, and although I was initially disappointed (and even annoyed) by the final shot, once I’d slept on it, I realised that no other ending could have had the same impact, and the final shot was what kept the movie in my mind long after the end credits rolled.

In fact, this film is one that engaged me on an intellectual level, but never on an emotional level – and that’s fine if that’s what it set out to do. Variety is the spice of life, and sometimes I want a brain-in-neutral action flick, sometimes I want a film that’ll really affect me emotionally, and other times, I want something that feels ripe for intellectual analysis and dissection, and The Green Knight certainly fell into that last category for me.