Lakeview

Bluesky

There have been interesting discussions taking place within the filmmaking community over the past few decades on the subject of the coming of age film and extending its remit beyond adolescence to explore other pivotal points in the life course. Though of course it doesn’t happen to everyone, one such moment might be divorce. Tara Thorne’s latest film, screened a BFI Flare 2025, focuses on a weekend get-together which Darcy (Lesley Smith) is hosting to celebrate her divorce. It’s a time for reassessing her life and reconnecting with the people outside of her marriage who have been most important to her. Amongst the invitees is an old flame, but to reconnect closely there might be a step too far.

It’s an ensemble film, each character having her own issues to deal with. Julien (Kathryn McCormack) and Julie Anne (Stephanie Clarke) are excited to announce their new pregnancy. Lucy (Jessica Marie Brown) wants to tell everyone about the misery of her recent break-up. Lauren (Nicole Steeves) brings along a new girlfriend, grad student Phoebe (Faly Mevamanana). The age gap between the latter two shocks and disappoints some of the others, who see it as exploitative or childish. Phoebe makes herself useful by comfoting Lucy, as both find themselves excluded from the inner circle. There’s an assumption that Phoebe isn’t really worth talking to because she’s so much younger, and there are moments when she does seem naïve and temperamental, but the different perspective that she brings to relationships serves to emphasise that the others don’t have all the answers either – that reaching, by way of age, a different place in life, doesn’t necessarily mean being wiser.

As the women catch up, share stories and provide comic moments for viewers to enjoy, they await the arrival of another friend, one whose status has changed since they last met because she has acquired a degree of fame as a singer/songwriter. This is Dax (Hilary Adams), and it quickly becomes apparent that we can’t trust what the others say about her, with bitterness, envy and crude assumptions all contributing to a kind of hype that no real person could justify. The way that she falls short of this creates a structural problem for the film, which loses some of its momentum as a result, but makes for a more interesting character-driven drama. Thorne tries to restore the balance by adding a musical number which precipitates emotional complications in itself. This is partially successful. Though the film never fully regains its energy, it manages to shift gears and, perhaps, genres. The question is whether or not viewers who came for the comedy will stick with it through the troubled romance.

The title comes from Darcy’s spacious lake house, where most of the action is set. This provides some nice scenery and also establishes an additional, albeit subtly used balance of power, as none of the women, including the famous Dax, have anything like as much money. It’s a comfortable setting for some uncomfortable moments. The gravitational force of long-established friendships lead the women to fail and forgive each other in ways that might not always be as easy for the viewer, or for Phoebe as the newcomer. These tensions drive much of the drama. They don’t always give it sufficient weight to convince, but the fresh and committed performances do a lot of heavy lifting.

Thorne still comes across as being at the stage where many aspects of her work are experimental. She’s yet to settle into her style, which makes her films interesting but means they fall a little short of their potential. One suspects that their appeal will grow in retrospect, when she’s really made her mark – which she seems determined to do. In the meantime, there’s enough here to while away an evening, if not quite to give you a weekend you’ll never forget.