Feel-bad festival dramas are about as commonplace as finding a penny in the city. If you look hard enough, there will always be one shining in wait. Dragonfly easily fits that bill—writer/director Paul Andrew Williams (The Cottage, The Children) shifts his genre sensibilities to elderly care in this chilling, overtly bleak character study. By its very nature, it will be off-putting to those who prefer more positive and uplifting cinema. Anchored by gripping turns from Oscar nominees Andrea Riseborough (To Leslie, Possessor) and Brenda Blethyn (Little Voice, Atonement), Dragonfly is a deeply upsetting yet undeniably unforgettable chamber piece.
As the film opens, an aide comes to the home of sweet but frail Elsie (Blethyn). Williams makes a pointed juxtaposition to Elsie being bathed against the next door neighbor, Colleen (Riseborough), content with relaxing on her couch and watching trashy reality TV with her mixed breed doggie, Saber. Their first interactions are borne from kindness. Colleen offers to pick up groceries for Elsie from a local shop. They begin to spend time in one another’s company. Colleen helps frequently, and just visits with Elsie as they share stories about their lives with each other. Soon enough, the aide becomes irrelevant.
Underneath the kind formalities, some activities are tense and questionable. Elsie clearly fears Saber—the dog exhibits erratic, often playful behavior that would be intimidating to anyone, let alone an elderly woman. It probably does not help that Saber completely destroys Elsie’s garden, too. How much of that can truly be blamed on the owner? Still, Elsie’s bond to Colleen develops in spite of Saber. Colleen spends more time in Elsie’s presence than her own son, or even the aide. Are Colleen’s intentions pure and true, or does she have ulterior motives?
As Dragonfly builds towards a tragic third act, we see much of Colleen’s raw interactions out in public and in private with Saber. Riseborough plays the character’s nuances with the utmost care. We never despise Colleen, however Elsie is certainly the more relatable of the two. Her defenseless and vulnerable nature makes her an easy target. It must be said that Paul Andrew Williams never takes the easy road as we head into the finale. Instead, he builds a tense atmosphere that only shatters when the time is right. The connection between these vastly different women changes the trajectory of both their lives. Unpredictable and shocking, Dragonfly urges viewers to be cautious against who we let into our hearts, and even further, whom we allow to enter our home.
Dragonfly premiered at 2025’s Tribeca Film Festival.
