Entertainment

Watch this: Couple in A Hole

Paul Higgins and Kate Dickie are the Couple In A Hole
Paul Higgins and Kate Dickie are the Couple In A Hole Paul Higgins and Kate Dickie are the Couple In A Hole

IF YOU missed the limited cinematic run for Couple In A Hole, the award-winning intriguingly offbeat survivalist-themed psychological drama from writer/director Tom Geens, it's currently available to rent on-demand via the BFI website.

This descriptively titled film is a slow-burner that gradually draws viewers into the lives of mysterious forest-dwelling Scottish couple Karen (Kate Dickie) and John (Paul Higgins), who have abandoned civilisation and reverted to a primitive hunter gatherer existence for reasons that are not immediately clear.

Initially, you might be thinking this is another grim post-apocalyptic tale. However, as Geens teases out the background details of the pair's situation, things become rather less clear cut – and all the more intriguing.

What emerges is a rather touching human drama which explores the psychology of loss, loneliness, friendship and love in extreme situations.

It's hardly laugh a minute, but there is a gentle sense of humour at play throughout this beautifully photographed, memorably odd film which also features supporting turns from Jerome Kircher (The Returned) and Corinne Masiero (Rust and Bone) and an atmospheric soundtrack by Portishead man Geoff Barrow's outfit Beak>.

You'll still be thinking about it long after the end credits roll.

:: Watch now at BFI.org.uk.