“Little Joe” (M) ***

THE literary influences driving writer (in collaboration with Geraldine Bajard) and director Jessica Hausner to create this sci-fi fantasy movie might possibly go back as far as HG Wells’ “The War of the Worlds” (1897) and later John Wyndham’s “The Day of the Triffids” (1951).

The plot unfolds in a British plant-breeding establishment where single mother Alice (Emily Beecham, who won Best Actress at Cannes for the role) has a reputation for scientific rigour. A new breed of plant is claiming much of her attention – single stem, no leaves, bright red flower with feathery petals. Her adolescent son Joe (Kit Connor) likes it. So she calls it “Little Joe”.

Little Joe has unusual characteristics. It may (not yet proven) respond to human voices. As its bud (one only per plant) gets ready to burst into full bloom, it exhales a powdery cloud of something affecting the behaviour of humans who breathe it in. 

While Bella (Kerry Fox) is failing at creating a hardy plant capable of surviving weeks of undernourishment and neglect, Alice and her team have successfully created a flower that requires more care than an ordinary plant, but which makes their owners happy.

As the hook from which the movie’s plot hangs, a plant with these capabilities may be botanically questionable. Its people are credible. Alice and Joe deal with family issues and workplace conflicts. Bella suicides. Chris (Ben Whishaw) tells Alice that he thinks he loves her. Sounds to me like a poor prospect for a relationship.

But by and large, people and plants together deliver sci-fi fantasy that works rather more convincingly than any ugly, vicious extra-terrestrial impossibility created on a computer. 

At Dendy