Clarissa

Chuko and Arie Esiri already made waves with their 2020 debut feature EYIMOFE. For their follow-up, the brothers have tackled one of the key texts of European modernism, Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway. The novel is a complex tapestry of past and present, as the title character looks back on her rebellious youth and wonders exactly when she succumbed to complacency. The Esiris have transposed Woolf’s narrative to contemporary Nigeria, as Clarissa (Sophie Okonedo) prepares for an elegant party, where she will play host to Lagos’s elites. CLARISSA follows two timelines. As the present-day Clarissa trudges through her stale marriage to Richard (Jude Akuwudike), we also see her younger self (India Amarteifio) at university in the 1990s. Clarissa, Peter (Toheeb Jimoh) and Sally (Ayo Edebiri) argue and philosophise, dreaming of a future of promise. In the present, Peter (David Oyelowo) is a failed writer, and Sally (Nikki Amuka-Bird) a suburban mother. Their regrets are emblematic of Nigeria’s growing pains, the fear of never fully emerging from the shadow of colonialism. This theme is mirrored in the Esiris’ fluid, classical style, which echoes the masterworks of Merchant-Ivory while imbuing them with a rueful irony. (Michael Sicinski)

In the presence of Theresa Park (production).

Arie Esiri: GOOSE (2017, K, KO-REGIE), BECAUSE MEN IN SILK SHIRTS ON LAGOS NIGHTS (2018, K), EYIMOFE: THIS IS MY DESIRE (2020, KO-REGIE)

Chuko Esiri: GOOSE (2017, K, KO-REGIE), BESIDA (2018, K), EYIMOFE: THIS IS MY DESIRE (2020, KO-REGIE)