By Sophie Monastra
“Oh, would you like to hear a story / About a man who’s tired of life? / Rejected money, love and glory / To escape the city strife.”
Thus sings Herb McGwyer, half of the folk duo known as McGwyer Mortimer. In the 10-year wake of the disbanding of the duo, both musically and romantically, Herb has been creating various commercial pop collaborations to fund a solo album.
When invited to play a small gig for half a million pounds on the isolated Wallis Island, Herb meets Charles Heath, an eccentric widower and lottery winner who will be the only audience member.
Oh, and Charles has also invited Herb’s former lover and second half of the duo, Nell Mortimer …who’s also married… and bringing her husband. Now, Herb and Nell have to navigate their weird relationship while Charles tries to salvage his dream gig.
“The Ballad of Wallis Island” is a British comedy. Because of that, most of the humor is less bombastic and mostly contained in witty dialogue, social situations and phrasing–allowing the film’s heart to shine through without feeling out of place.
The pacing is relaxing and flows naturally. There were a few mild lulls around the middle, but are forgivable because it fits the slice-of-life genre. The story isn’t designed to be fast-paced, and the slower pace allows for more character development. The development is well done and believable, each of the characters had agency and made decisions that made sense with what had been established about them.
I’m especially happy with how Michael, Nell’s husband, is written. A lesser movie would have built on the chemistry between Herb and Nell at the expense of villainizing Michael. However, ‘“The Ballad of Wallis Island” respects Nell and Michael’s relationship and love.
It is a fact universally acknowledged that music-focused movies need good music to support them. The original soundtrack, written by Tom Badsen and performed by him and Carey Mulligan, pulls an amazing amount of weight. The songs are used both as diegetic music (being played by the characters or within the house) and non-diegetic music (overlayed to scenes). The songs carry emotions of the scenes and hint at character arcs. Also, they’re genuinely catchy folk songs.
The movie, while funny and quirky, was also surprisingly heartfelt. The movie focuses on dealing with the past–understanding it, accepting it and letting it go. It also explores love and grief, and the power of music to connect with emotions and memories.
The movie originally began as the short film “The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island,” directed by James Griffiths and written by Tom Badsen and Tim Key. The story was then expanded into the full-length feature film shown at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, across the UK, and in limited releases through the US.
Most recently, this movie was shown as part of Cedarville University’s Foreign Films Series, run by the school’s English and Modern Languages Department. The showing included a talkback with Assistant Professor of English Dr. Scott Hodgin, who led a discussion on the film’s themes and symbolisms.
The Foreign Films Series has become my source of sleeper-hit movies that end up becoming my favorite films, with “The Ballad of Wallis Island” joining my ranks of favorite movies. I have to agree with Dr. Hodgin about this movie–“I laughed, I cried, I want to watch it over and over again.”
“The Ballad of Wallis Island” is available for purchase or rental on Amazon Prime, Apple TV and other platforms.
Sophia Monastra is a Senior Professional Writing and Information Design major and A&E writer. She is still recovering from “Young Sherlock”.
Images courtesy of Baby Cow Productions
No Replies to "‘The Ballad of Wallis Island’ is a comedy with depth, heart, humor and a killer soundtrack"