The Wasp begins as one thing, but by the end, you come to realize it was quite something else altogether. The same goes for the main characters in this tightly-wound two-hander that deals with motherhood, privilege, and the lasting impact of childhood trauma. While occasionally stretching the bounds of credibility, this thriller from director Guillem Morales (Julia’s Eyes) and penned by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm in an adaptation of her 2015 stageplay features rich, complex performances by Naomie Harris and Natalie Dormer. Together, they deliver an entertaining, multi-layered film that keeps finding new ways to surprise.
Appearing at first to be a domestic drama about a crumbling marriage, The Wasp introduces us to Heather (Harris), who is clearly unhappy despite living an affluent, upper-class lifestyle. Her husband Simon pays her little attention. He’s preoccupied with work and only cares about making a good impression at an important dinner party they’re throwing. He barely notices the swarm of wasps that have somehow been infiltrating their home, with Heather driving herself mad to kill them.
Then there’s Carla (Dormer), a scrappy, working-class woman about to pop out her fifth child to a man who also seems like an afterthought. The men are noticeably useless in this film. Barely making ends meet with her cashier job, Carla occasionally steps out to meet an unknown male client.
The two women meet after Heather sends Carla a series of urgent texts. But it’s not a happy reunion. The two were briefly childhood friends, but circumstances altered their relationship considerably. They haven’t spoken in years, which makes this meeting strange. Turns out, Heather wants Carla to murder her husband and get paid handsomely for it. Huh? Why would she think Carla is even capable of such a thing? Frequent flashbacks to an event from the past tell us why, but even so, it’s a Hitchcockian twist that changes our perception of what The Wasp truly is.
And then Morales and Malcolm start having some fun. The two women couldn’t be more different, and the plan is absurd on its face. Carla is all street smarts and chip-on-her-shoulder energy but a hardened criminal she isn’t, and Heather is a goodie two-shoes. Hashing out the plan at Heather’s crib, they sound like two people setting up a bake sale, not a murder. But there’s also a lot of tension that keeps creeping into the conversation. Old resentments can’t help but bubble to the surface, even as they’re trying to work together on his devilish scheme.
The Wasp sets up a lot of misdirection, but all of it serves a purpose. This isn’t a movie overloaded with twists just for the sake of fooling the audience. There is one major swerve and it’s a whopper, but everything that happens after spins naturally out of that. The play has been fleshed out to include more flashbacks showing young Heather and Carla’s (played capably by Leah Modesir-Simmonds and Olivia Juno Cleverley) roller coaster friendship. But crucially what has been added is more exchanges between the two women as mothers. The title comes not just from the insects invading Heather’s home, but from the collection of bugs her husband keeps encased. One is the tarantula hawk, which Heather ominously describes as a predator that captures and kills other tarantulas, consuming them. An ugly metaphor with motherhood and pregnancy is unavoidable, especially as Carla, who would gladly sell all of her children for a quick buck, discusses the savage toll they take on a woman’s body.
Harris and Dormer are exceptional in roles that keep unfolding in new ways. Heather strikes us as capable but timid. She’s clearly made something of herself but we learn there’s something in her past that fuels the woman she has become. Carla is angry, always on-edge, and frustrated by the path her life has taken. While it’s easy to paint her as a villain in some ways, Dormer’s performance reveals the pain that Carla tries to hide from others.
The Wasp is a high-class guilty pleasure, well-crafted and implausible but very enjoyable. As the situation spins further out of control, so too does the narrative get too unbelievable for its own good. However, at a crisp 90-minutes there’s no overstaying the welcome either, and The Wasp delivers a satisfying cold-hearted conclusion that will make you rethink connecting with some of your old high school friends. Maybe it’s best to leave the past in the past.
The Wasp is playing in theaters now.
