Out today on Netflix, The Dig tells the fascinating story of the Sutton Hoo treasure. It stars Carey Mulligan as Edith Pretty – the woman who starts the dig on her land – and Ralph Fiennes as Basil Brown – the freelance excavator she hires to do the dig. I really liked this. I learned a lot too about excavating archaeological sites! I reviewed for Ebert.
thank you for your lovely review!
“ But who knows the fate of his bones, or how often he is to be buried? who hath the Oracle of his ashes, or whether they are to be scattered?”
I enjoyed this much more than I thought I would, and Jessie, you might appreciate a Kate Bush lyric come to life onscreen as a fighter plane becomes a funeral barge. Sir Thomas Browne and WG Sebald (whose book The Rings of Saturn, which I urge every one to read, is set very roughly this geographical area) would make worthier commentaries than I can on the haphazard yet enduring human record, spinning their usual gold from its scattered and contradictory remnants.
I also enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I got swept away by the dig and the sense of excitement. There were a couple of weird additions – Edith’s maybe crush on Basil? and then the whole relationship melodrama which felt like it was added to it to add some spice – I could be wrong and others may totally disagree with me. I always love watching JOHNNY FLYNN in action.
Thanks for the rec on Rings of Saturn!
If I’m not mistaken – Basil says at one point: “Henry VIII dug here …” I have no idea about this – it was said just in passing. But that’s fascinating – so the mounds were a ‘draw’ to the curious for centuries?
JOHNNY FLYNN!!!
I did a bit of a google on the Henry VIII connection, and much as I hate to question the real or fictional Basil Brown’s knowledge of history, it’s a myth. But the mounds were well known locally for there to be a lot of illegal digging over the Tudor period until around 1600. This article describes four known periods of excavation of the site, from 1600, 1860, 1939, and 1965-71, with some great aerial photos and juicy, nerdy archeologist details, including how excavations are affected by previous ones:
https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/102095/1/2011_Carver_Great_Excavations.pdf
There’s even a mention of our boy, John Dee.
Young Robert Pretty left his roller skates in one of the excavated mounds, and they were discovered in the post-war excavation. And alas, it comes as no surprise to me that the British Army used the Sutton Hoo burial site for tank training during the war, as well as digging trenches right across the mounds themselves.
Back to the film – apparently there was a lot more Peggy and husband relationship drama which got cut, so that may explain why it felt a bit shoehorned in, but pfft, who knows, we all got their whole carpe diem vs the unfathomably eternity of death vs the fragility of the human record in five seconds flat, and there were other scenes which conveyed this theme more eloquently. I would have traded that storyline to see a bit more Fiennes and the sublime Monica Dolan and whatever was going on in that relationship.
wow – I just skimmed that article so far – but the aerial photos are great and really show how close the river was. I mean, I kind of got the picture from the JOHNNY FLYNN rescue-attempt of the drowned plane but I wasn’t sure. I love the image of the roller skates in the mounds!! lol!
I will read more – and also forward on to my friend, who has also gone down a Google rabbit-hole post-seeing the movie.
// the British Army used the Sutton Hoo burial site for tank training during the war, as well as digging trenches right across the mounds themselves. //
sigh. It’s a good thing they excavated as much as they could in 1938, then, before all that.
so Henry VIII is fake news? Oh, Basil, no!!
// and the sublime Monica Dolan and whatever was going on in that relationship. //
oh GOD that relationship. I loved it! I wanted to get into it in my review but word count and all. But what a fascinating pair. at first I thought she might be representative of one of my least favorite movie-wife tropes, what I call the “wet blanket wife.” Tut-tutting over her husband doing unconventional things – telling him to come home, wear warm slippers, go to bed early – Jesus, yeah, let’s make monogamy look totally boring, good propaganda! I loved how she just accepted him – but also counter-acted his natural humility – his slight intimidation at the “experts” coming in to take over – or, if not intimidation then feeling helpless and shuffled aside – I loved how she was like, “NO. YOU dug this up.” and he felt bolstered by her support – she was there to remind him of how good he was at what he did.
loved the whole thing. I definitely wanted more of it. and you could see Edith really looking at them, taking in how they treated her son – definitely hoping they would stay in her son’s life, particularly after she was gone.
// carpe diem vs the unfathomably eternity of death vs the fragility of the human record in five seconds flat, //
lol true
There is a Bfi q and a about to be broadcast on YouTube with fiennes and Dolan and the director at 7pm UK time (ie in 10 minutes) and I will be there for it.
https://youtu.be/8NA6I6EZx6g
And ha! Love that your friend is into this too! aagh, would love to sneak into the British Museum to see the display, but alas not possible of course.
I know – I want to see that HELMET. I wonder if they ever travel to other museums – I’m sure, yes? Would love to see these artifacts.
I remembered that you wrote this review so I came by after viewing! I was hoping for a methodical procedural period piece about something cool and intricate. I did not expect one of the most necromanic and elegiac films I have seen in a long time. Exhumation, resuscitation, dead husbands, dead fathers, dead children, dying mothers, the ancient dead, the recent dead, the to-be dead, the war dead, the bombed, the drowned, the buried, burial sites, cemeteries, inquests, death warnings, death rites, death in the particular and the universal, death echoes, what lingers after death, what death and burial tells to and of us. The editing had a big impact on me. Dialogue lingering into the next scene or intruding into the preceding, traces and remains, often people we can’t see in another time and place discussing the person we can see. I thought that was extraordinary choice.
I agree so much with your review Sheila that the Peggy-Stuart digression does not add much and indeed takes away. It was a thankless task but Lily James and her husband were not up to it. The two key moments from that whole storyline are Peggy dropping her rings into the ground to be found by future seekers and that startling shot of Johnny Flynn in his uniform and they could have been achieved regardless. I’m not generally drawn to Carey Mulligan and I’m not sure she was doing anything particularly exciting but I found her touching nonetheless and I cried enough to have a headache all last night and half of today, haha. The end sequence with her son narrating her trip into the stars was too precocious for me but still thoroughly effective. The actor who played her son had this incredible moment when he ran out of the house after seeing her unwell and collided into Fiennes and punched the ground in frustration, such an explosive felt gesture, very memorable.
Fiennes marvellous as usual and couldn’t agree more with you guys about how delightful Monica Dolan and that relationship was; they skirted perilously close to her being a self-sacrificing long-suffering wife but their naturalistic patter at the garden party — not knowing what to do about the sherry! — saved it.
Helena of course the Thomas Browne came to your mind — love it — and you’re spot on about that eerie Lionheart image.
What an unexpected and imperfect but interesting and memorable movie. I’m so glad you reviewed or it might not have been on my radar!
Jessie – love love your thoughts here!
// necromanic and elegiac films I have seen in a long time. //
It really is an elegy to a lost world – or, really, many lost worlds.
// I’m not generally drawn to Carey Mulligan //
Neither am I. I liked her here because she was not called upon to be charming or romantic – I like her in larger stories with an ensemble around her – I thought she was excellent in Mudbound too. I found her very touching in this – really under-playing – such a smart choice.
That child actor was so good – so real! Talk about being surrounded by death – he’s absorbed it into him without even knowing. What will the war be like for him? Who will take care of him after his mum dies? I was haunted by these questions. It seemed like Ralph Fiennes and his wonderful wife would certainly look out for him but that little moment with the child made me really worry for the trauma of his mother’s death, fast approaching.
// they skirted perilously close to her being a self-sacrificing long-suffering wife but their naturalistic patter at the garden party — not knowing what to do about the sherry! — saved it. //
TOTALLY. it was a slightly eccentric relationship – two equals – really loved it.
It’s funny – I am currently living with a man obsessed with archaeology. Every show he watches is along the lines of “Digs Into the Ancient World” “Re-Discovered Empires” “The Dig of a Lifetime” – it’s digs digs digs. He had already flagged The Dig as something he wanted to check out before I arrived.
AND my 10 year old nephew – totally spontaneously – has become INTENSELY interested in Vikings and Anglo Saxons. I pulled up a picture of the excavated ship after telling him the story and he said, “Oh yes, they had long skinny boats like that.” Then I pulled up the treasures to show him and told him about how Basil Browne’s contribution was erased out of history – my nephew is not a particularly expressive boy – but a flicker of outrage crossed his face. “That’s not fair.” “It is totally not fair. But it’s all better now and everyone knows that he discovered it,” I reassured him.
//Dialogue lingering into the next scene or intruding into the preceding, traces and remains, often people we can’t see in another time and place discussing the person we can see. I thought that was extraordinary choice.//
Jessie you would enjoy the q and a linked above as the director talks about his influences when pitching to direct, and they include Malick and also Russian directors like Kalamatov to the extent that he argues The Dig is basically Soviet propaganda.
//they skirted perilously close to her being a self-sacrificing long-suffering wife//
The film dangled so many cliched possibilities which they circumnavigated gloriously (Peggy/JOHNNY FLYNN excepted), and if you want to see Monica Dolan carry a movie and break your heart then please watch The Bagnold Summer if you can.
Thank you for the nudge that was a great Q&A, sounds like he managed a very collaborative and relaxed set. I wish I were more familiar with Soviet propaganda! But I can definitely see the Malick connex. All that golden hour! And thanks for the Bagnold Summer rec, hadn’t heard of it — added to the list :D
// he argues The Dig is basically Soviet propaganda. //
Omg
and thanks for the tip on Bagnold Summer! I fell in love with her and what she did with this relatively small part. She was a full 3-dimensional person.
JOHNNY FLYNN ALL CAPS
OH JOHNNY FLYNN WE LOVE YOU PLEASE GET UP
lol!! seriously GET UP. WE NEED YOU
I totally get the Johnny Flynn thing now that I’ve seen him! Riding away on the motorbike in his leather jacket kinda made my hair stand on end, pure Redford. Can you make Netflix put on Emma please. Asking for me.
Sheila I love all this archaeological ~synchronicity in your life. Your nephew is such a sweetheart!