The World to Come

The World to Come is beautiful, sensual, subtle, and really, really, fucking sad.

The film takes place in 1856 on the American frontier. Abigail is a farmer’s wife who decides to keep a diary. Right off the top, Abigail’s young child dies. Abigail’s depression hangs heavy until meeting her new neighbor, Tallie brings her out of the worst of it. Both women quickly find a sense of companionship and closeness with each other which their husbands do not provide. Because the film features on this site, the deep friendship eventually turns romantic. Of course, Tallie and Abigail’s husbands feel deep displeasure in the fact that their respective wives no longer have their husbands as their top priority or sense of joy.

The World to Come places focus on centering the female point of view. A farmer’s wife in 1856 is an unusual choice of narrator. Abigail’s character is one who traditionally would be a docile, supporting character wife with little character depth. Instead, she’s the narrator. Indeed, the first time her husband speaks it’s channeled through Abigail’s interpretation of his voice in her diary. The men in this movie are present but not offered much depth. For once, they’re not the focus. Tallie and Abigail’s husbands could be anyone. What is important to the story is Tallie and Abigail themselves and all that they feel, think and are.

Of course, the world that Tallie and Abigail inhabit is unkind to everyone but especially women. Is it any surprise they take so strongly to each other when nobody else offers them much tenderness let alone understanding? The world that they inhabit is one that minimizes and even shames the potential of emotional depth in women. Yet even in this society where such thoughts and feelings are a negative for women, Tallie and Abigail can’t help but to feel strongly for each other and have thoughts that go beyond pleasing their husband or keeping their farm.

When their relationship turns romantic, all of Abigail’s impressive vocabulary fails her. She doesn’t have the words to describe her feelings because she’s never needed them before. The depth of affection Abigail holds for Tallie is different to her husband. Their marriage is more a business arrangement than anything. It’s certainly not a true partnership or companionship. In a later scene, we see Abigail’s discomfort in her husband simply being in the same room with her. For her husband, Abigail’s state is always performative. With Tallie, it’s real. Because unlike her husband, Tallie has made the effort to try to actually know Abigail and not just prod her into being an ideal of a wife.

But, in a world as cruel as this, Tallie and Abigail’s relationship can’t flourish. Reality and also, the patriarchy intrudes on t he beautiful moment in the sun that is their relationship. There was never an opportunity for these women to live a life not beholden to men. There is death in the film. But most tragic is Abigail’s life afterwards. Tallie has awoken a depth of feeling and affection in her to which she was previously ignorant. But Tallie is gone now and Abigail must continue with the knowledge that genuine happiness is possible for her, but unreachable. Abigail had a brief moment of joy and love in the sunlight with Tallie. But as the film ends, she is doomed to a life in shadow. Unhappy as she was when the movie started, this is undoubtedly worse. At least initially, she didn’t know the alternative.

The World to Come is a beautiful movie. A poetic and emotional script pairs with beautiful cinematography and spot-on performances. I don’t have any negatives about the film. It effortlessly and artfully accomplishes its focus on the rich inner lives of women and the glorious warmth of true companionship. It is definitely super sad so, if you’re not about seeing doomed lesbian love stories, give it a miss. But in The World to Come, beauty and poetry can be found even within tragedy.

Overall rating: 8.9/10

Other WLW films in similar genres