‘Whitetail’ review: Natasha O’Keeffe impresses in Nanouk Leopold’s haunting Irish drama

Dir/scr: Nanouk Leopold. Netherlands/Belgium/Eire. 2025. 103mins

An Irishwoman is unable to maneuver on from a tragic accident that occurred in her teenagers in Whitetail, the highly effective new drama from Dutch director Nanouk Leopold. As in her earlier options, akin to It’s All So Quiet  (2013) and Wolfsbergen (2007), a lot of the drama occurs between the traces; her characters aren’t very huge talkers, or, not less than not very communicative about their innermost emotions. But it’s onerous to look away from the agony of this hardy lady of nature, performed by Peaky Blinders star Natasha O’Keeffe. That efficiency, along with some placing cinematography, may assist this arthouse drama journey following its Toronto premiere and berths in Chicago and Thessaloniki.

 Provides O’Keeffe a serious showcase for her formidable expertise 

British-born O’Keeffe, who has Irish mother and father, performs thirtysomething Jen, a no-nonsense ranger at a lush nature reserve in southern Eire. She’s an virtually comically onerous employee who pays extra consideration to her job and the forest than to the native males who appear to be taken with her. Leopold, who additionally wrote the austere screenplay, opens the movie with a prologue that incorporates the reason for Jen’s cussed behaviour. As a young person, Jen (Abby Fitz) fooled round along with her then-boyfriend Oscar (Seán Treacy) within the far finish of the woods, and a horrible accident occurred that has left each of them scarred for all times.

The drama actually kicks off when the now grown-up Oscar (Aaron McCusker, Bohemian Rhapsody) returns to his parental dwelling after the loss of life of his mom. Having lengthy managed to comprise her grief, anger and harm, Jen can’t actually cope with the sudden arrival of the individual with whom she shares a traumatic previous. To make issues worse, Jen additionally has to cope with her widower father (Andrew Bennett, The Quiet Lady), who himself isn’t fairly positive learn how to discuss to his daughter about not solely her adolescent trauma however about how he reacted to it — or did not, in a way. 

As in Leopold’s earlier movies, characters usually are not wont to elucidate why they do — or don’t do — sure issues. As an alternative, audiences are invited to easily observe the characters’ behaviour and put collectively the items of the puzzle. It helps immensely to have actors which might be a relentless pleasure to observe, whether or not they’re being good or nasty.

O’Keeffe actually is Leopold’s secret weapon right here, as she delivers a fancy and layered efficiency of an indignant, decided lady in an uncommon predicament. Fairly often, individuals are unable to maneuver on even when they wish to. However Jen is a distinct form of lady, afraid to let go of her traumatic previous as a result of it means dropping part of herself or admitting that she might need a point of duty for the accident – an entire Pandora’s Field of unresolved points that she’d relatively not confront.  

As in her Dutch colleague Urszula Antoniak’s Eire-set drama Nothing Private  (2009), Leopold makes use of the Emerald Isle’s spectacular pure landscapes as a key ingredient to counsel one thing about her characters’ internal world. Cinematographer Frank van den Eeden’s work ensures that nature is current in every single place, but by no means does it really feel so overwhelming that it couldn’t be dominated by hard-working, extremely motivated individuals akin to Jen.

It’s after all vital that Jen grew to become a ranger, thus preserving her inside the very landscapes the place her founding tragedy occurred and making her liable for its maintenance and for avoiding the chance that historical past may repeat itself. In a neat narrative sleight of hand, Leopold lets issues come full circle in a devastatingly logical manner, whereas giving O’Keeffe a serious showcase for her formidable expertise.