Critics divided over Daniel Day-Lewis’s ‘bleak’ yet ‘commanding’ screen return

Actor plays an estranged hermit in son’s directorial debut about fraught family relationships

Critics have been left divided over Daniel Day-Lewis’s return to screen in his son Ronan’s directorial debut, Anemone, with some heralding the actor a “marvel” while others dub the film a “serious misfire”.

Anemone, which Day-Lewis penned with his son, marks the actor’s first project in eight years. In 2017, he announced his retirement after starring in Phantom Thread but later rescinded the remarks.

The 68-year-old stars in Anemone as Ray, an estranged hermit, whose brother Jem (Sean Bean) leaves his suburban home and ventures out into the woods to reconnect with him.

In The Guardian’s two-star review of the film, Adrian Horton said Anemone has a “bleak mood” that’s only partially effective. She praised “two mesmerising monologues” given by Day-Lewis but added the “cinematically triumphant moment is quickly swallowed” by a “booming sense of Import”.

However, The Telegraph’s Robbie Collin awarded Anemone four stars, praising both Day-Lewis’s “indestructible” monologues and the film’s “story of generational scarring, abasement and forgiveness” played out in the relationships between the central brother characters, as well its fathers and sons.

Collin acknowledged: “Like many first films, Ronan’s can work a little too hard to justify its existence, and some may bridle at the magic-realist flourishes. But if it took crazy hailstorms and giant fish to persuade Day-Lewis senior to return…I say bring ’em on.”

Rolling Stone was similarly complimentary, with David Fear attesting that Anemone is far more than just a showcase for Day-Lewis’s return but an introduction to his son as an artist.

Sean Bean as Jem and Daniel Day-Lewis as Ray in a scene from ‘Anemone’ (Focus Features)

He wrote: “This exploration of what lies in the silences between blood relations and the difficulty of moving past one’s own past tragedies makes you feel like you are watching something truly unique.

“It’s the work of a young filmmaker. But it’s also very much the work of a genuine filmmaker, bursting with creativity and refining their vision in real time. To quote another member of this cineaste’s clan: Attention must be paid,” Fear said.

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Contrastingly, The Hollywood Reporter’s David Rooney said the film “seldom approaches” Day-Lewis’s “earth-shattering force”.

He argued: “Day-Lewis’ rugged performance provides a semblance of narrative weight in a drama that’s otherwise lacking…You can feel the director straining for poignancy in closing scenes that point toward possible reconciliation, but the drama remains unaffecting.”

Day Lewis with his son Ronan at New York Film Festival (Getty Images for FLC)

Day-Lewis and his son began talking about working together just before Covid, and went back and forth working on the characters of Jem and Ray.

The actor said working on Anemone with his son reinvigorated him to relaunch his acting career after Phantom Thread left him “overwhelmed by a sense of sadness”.

He explained: “As I get older, it just takes me longer and longer to find my way back to the place where the furnace is burning again. But working with Ro, that furnace just lit up. And it was, from beginning to end, just pure joy to spend that time together with him.”

Anemone releases in theaters on 3 October.