Electricity, film review: Low-key drama lit up by Deyn’s charged turn

(15) Bryn Higgins, 95 mins. Starring: Agyness Deyn, Christian Cooke, Paul Anderson, Alice Lowe, Lenora Critchlow, Tom Georgeson

Agyness Deyn stars as Lily O'Connor in Electricity

Model-turned-actress Agyness Deyn gives an impassioned, febrile performance as Lily, a beautiful young epileptic woman who comes to London from her Lancashire home in pursuit of her missing brother, in this low budget British film adapted from Ray Robinson’s 2006 novel.

The film itself is an intriguing hybrid, combining elements of typical British social realism with more expressionistic flourishes, reflecting Lily’s seizures and fast changing moods.

As it chronicles Lily’s troubled family background and her experiences on the London streets, Electricity occasionally slips into heavy-handed Dickensian-style melodrama. In its lesser moments, its impressionistic style gives it the look of a pop promo.

Nonetheless, it is very impressively shot by cinematographer Si Bell. Deyn, meanwhile, brings intensity and pathos to her role as the hyper-sensitive but always resilient heroine.