Overview
A young girl’s mysterious survival captivates a village, but dark secrets lurk beneath the surface.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Slow
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- foreboding
- brooding
- austere
- quiet night
- arthouse movie night
What critics said
Critics broadly praised Sebastián Lelio's direction, Florence Pugh's performance, the ensemble cast, cinematography, and score, while finding the adaptation somewhat underdeveloped or implausible.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Anna's fasting becomes a public religious spectacle while village authorities impose observation rules and resist outside scrutiny.
Pilgrims and tourists gather around Anna's claimed survival, forcing Lib to distinguish divine intervention from concealed human motives.
The dreary Irish Midlands village, restrained compositions, and religious atmosphere intensify the investigation's slow-burn unease.
The 1862 Irish setting and Anna's prolonged fasting evoke the lingering consequences of famine-era suffering and deprivation.
Films like The Wonder, and why
The Wicker Man
shared slow-burn folk horror, religious foreboding, rural isolation, and morally serious investigation
The Village of the Damned
shared period mystery, oppressive community beliefs, child-centered enigma, and unsettling atmosphere
The Crucible
shared historical drama, female-centered investigation, religious repression, and austere visual style
The Devil's Backbone
shared psychological suspense, ambiguous supernatural suggestion, and isolated rural setting
Movie Details
- Director
- Sebastián Lelio
- Release Date
- 2022-11-02
- Runtime
- 108 min
- Rating
- 6.6 / 10 (1017)
Cast
- Florence Pugh
- Kíla Lord Cassidy
- Tom Burke
- Niamh Algar
- Elaine Cassidy
- Ruth Bradley
- Toby Jones
- Ciarán Hinds
- Dermot Crowley
- Caolan Byrne
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Wonder about?
- An English nurse confronts a village’s fervent belief in an allegedly miraculous fasting child, uncovering a mystery shaped by grief, faith, and buried harm.
- What is The Wonder like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Wonder as slow, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is The Wonder violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in The Wonder as mild.
- What did critics think of The Wonder?
- Critics broadly praised Sebastián Lelio's direction, Florence Pugh's performance, the ensemble cast, cinematography, and score, while finding the adaptation somewhat underdeveloped or implausible.
- Which films are like The Wonder?
- Films with a similar feel include The Wicker Man, The Village of the Damned, The Crucible, and The Devil's Backbone.
- How long is The Wonder?
- The Wonder runs 108 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Wonder?
- In United States, The Wonder streams on Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads.
