Rating: R | Runtime: 102 minutes
Release Date: January 19th, 2024 (UK/USA)
Studio: Signature Entertainment / Republic Pictures
Director(s): Mahalia Belo
Writer(s): Alice Birch / Megan Hunter (novel)

Could be a disaster.

It’s a new beginning for Mom (Jodie Comer) and Dad (Joel Fry). Their home is set in the heart of London and they have a baby on the way. Unfortunately, this chapter starts for them just as another ends for the entire world. Relentless storms and flash floods become so destructive that I thought the beginning of Mahalia Belo’s The End We Start From was a metaphoric hallucination about childbirth for its main character. Only after young Zeb’s birth is crosscut with water crashing through a window do we realize it’s really happening. London is gone.

Adapted by Alice Birch from Megan Hunter’s novel, the narrative moves to its logical next step: a parent’s house. Luckily, Dad’s parents (Mark Strong and Nina Sosanya) are borderline survivalists living high above sea-level with a stronghold of provisions. But even those must deplete at some point. Eventually, those who were privileged enough to ride out the early chaos become the ones unprepared for what the world has become in the meantime. The story shifts to one of protection. Delusion. Nightmare and fantasy. Some can push through. Others cannot.

Belo’s film is slow-moving as a result. What began with a rousing couple of scenes with some real electric drama settles into a series of ordeals that want to be more confrontational than they are actually shown to be. More than once Mom and Dad get into a disagreement that ends with a jump cut to her having to fend for herself. Eventually she meets an ally in O (Katherine Waterston), another mother with a toddler, and we follow them as they move between shelters and chase the pipe dream that is an island commune seeking to forget the past while building a future.

Comer is very good in the lead. It’s easy to underestimate the performance since the whole turns into a one-woman survivalist show for long stretches. So, while it feels like we’re just watching the same thing in different forms over again, there is nuance if you’re willing to look. Even so, it’s the supporting characters that stick to your memory since their impact is more explosive. Waterston is fantastic—especially in her final scene. Strong too. Even Benedict Cumberbatch steals a moment via a brief cameo. They each shape Mom’s decisions to move forward by either allowing herself to look back or rejecting the urge.

Those who can take something more from the themes of motherhood and separation will surely come away with a lot more to say and like about the overall film. I personally found myself appreciating the journey more than taking anything away from what ultimately proves to be familiar tropes within the post-apocalyptic genre—albeit much quieter and more introspective than usual. It’s a solid story that looks and sounds great, but I wouldn’t be surprised to discover it works better on the page insofar as digging further to unearth the weight of emotion that’s ravaging Mom’s heart.

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Jodie Comer in THE END WE START FROM; courtesy of TIFF.