LYNN + LUCY

By Fyzal Boulifa • 2019 • 90’ • UK

REVIEWS

★★★★ “What an incredible debut from British director Fyzal Boulifa. His slyly empathetic Essex drama tracks the destruction of a beautiful-ugly friendship between Lynn (newcomer Roxanne Scrimshaw) and Lucy (Nichola Burley), two mums, one of them new to the game. Lynn and Lucy have been joined at the hip for years. When something horrifying happens, it leads Lynn to make a bid for freedom, via new pals. The camera-work is bold (Boulifa uses a 4:3 aspect ratio that deliberately cramps his characters’ style). The effect is disorientating, stressful and — ultimately — electrifying. Lucy is all chiselled bravado. Lynn has Janis Joplin’s wounded smile. Both actresses deserve prizes. Burnley + Scrimshaw — a film you can’t afford to miss”.
– Evening Standard

★★★★ “Resonant and mythic emotions abound at the heart of this ostensibly gritty tale of female friendship gone awry...The astonishing debut feature director Fyzal Boulifa teases apart the themes without once hitting you over the head with them. When Lynn is hired by the local salon, for instance, the hairdressers there serve as a sinister Greek chorus, echoing back her primal jealousies (Lucy is more glamorous, more adventurous) and ultimately encouraging her betrayal. Scrimshaw, a non-professional hired from a “street casting” (a local newspaper ad), is a remarkable find and often required to play multiple conflicting emotions at once, while Burley has never been better”.
-The Times

★★★★ “Betrayal and righteousness blur, the script giving the women of the story nuance and depth, rewarded by excellent performances. Boulifa, meanwhile, has a twofold gift for striking images and potent drama, spotlighting the hidden corners in the psyche where none of us are saints and we might all be monsters'“.
-Financial Times

★★★★ Working-class community warfare is laid bare in this starkly captured feature debut from Fyzal Boulifa. Boulifa cast Scrimshaw from the streets to play Lynn, and her captivatingly stoic debut performance more than holds its own against Burley’s more seasoned one. When the film arrives at its most polarising moments — complemented by Taina Galis’ bright but sparsely framed cinematography — Lynn + Lucy deftly highlights the fragile fabric of a community boxed in by its self-imposed sense of justice, and the desperate, damaging behaviour drawn out by scandal. Boasting two impressive performances — especially from Scrimshaw, a major street-cast win — Lynn + Lucy begins with tragedy in a small town, but it’s the larger study of mob culture in our country that will linger.
-Empire

★★★★ “It can be hard to stomach how close to reality this all is but, in its knotty and confrontational treatment of the material, Lynn + Lucy is a thought-provoking, worthy watch that asks us to see the human beings behind the headlines and consider the consequences of our words.”
– The List

“When it comes to spotting new talent, this is one of 2020’s most exciting feature debuts. Set on a Harlow housing estate, director Fyzal Boulifa’s thrillingly expressionistic slice of social realism tells the story of lifelong best friends Lynn (newcomer Roxanne Scrimshaw) and Lucy (Nichola Burley). Now in their twenties, both are young mums struggling to breathe in a system stacked against them. When tragedy strikes, their friendship is pushed to breaking point. Raw and imperfect but all the more beautiful for it.”
– Metro

“In Fyzal Boulifa’s darkly perceptive suburban drama “Lynn + Lucy,” it’s a casual shot fired in an especially unhappy case of internal working-class warfare. Toughly updating an age-old strain of gossip-fueled neighborhood morality play, this story of female friendship undone by domestic tragedy plays as a kind of Sirkian melodrama for the Daily Mail age of tabloid hysteria — altogether an audacious, promise-confirming feature debut for Boulifa, whose shorts “Rate Me” and “The Curse” both took top honors in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes...It accrues real mouth-drying power as its narrative keeps twisting the knife, thanks in no small part to a superbly matched pair of lead performances by Nichola Burley and newcomer Roxanne Scrimshaw”.
– Guy Lodge, Variety

“Fyzal Boulifa’s bruising account of female friendship comes with an emotional wallop. Lynn is played by street-cast actress Roxanne Scrimshaw, who makes a startling debut, and Lucy by Nichola Burley, who delivers at every turn. Boulifa shows a gift for economic storytelling: the film has just an hour-and-a-half running time, but it still comes with an emotional wallop.
- I Newspaper

 “The story, deftly handled by Boulifa, hooks us in from the first few seconds, while the outstanding leads never drown out a note-perfect supporting cast. Both technically and artistically it’s a triumph, giving the film as a whole a precision and punch that leave us genuinely stunned.“
– Cineuropa

“The ultra-composed Lynn + Lucy trains its camera on a sight that hasn't often been seen in British cinema these past few years: authentic working-class life. It's raffles in chain pubs, Lizzie Cundy makeovers, nightclub singalongs to Paris Hilton's "Stars Are Blind"; it's overflowing ashtrays, poky rooms separated by too-thin walls, a lack of protection and safety nets, a sense of disaster or tragedy waiting to happen. Crucially, writer-director Fyzal Boulifa meets all of the above foursquare, on the level, without sneering or condescension.”
– Cinesthesiac

★★★★ -Financial Times
★★★★ -Daily Express
★★★★ -Sunday Express
★★★★ -The Daily Star
★★★★ -The List
★★★★ - Heat Magazine
★★★★ -Flickering Myth
★★★★ -The People’s Movies
★★★★ -The Movie Waffler