Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here follows troubled Gulf War veteran and former FBI agent Joe (Joaquin Phoenix), a man working to save girls from child sex rings and who is hired to hunt down the kidnappers of a US senator’s daughter (Ekaterina Samsonov). Based on a 2013 novella by Jonathan Ames, Ramsay’s first feature since the success of We Need to Talk About Kevin presents a hallucinogenic and unconventional twist on a hitman thriller, hooked around a Cannes-winning performance from Phoenix.

The film had its UK premiere at the 61st BFI London Film Festival and we were there to catch up with Ramsay on why she was inspired to adapt Ames’s novel for the screen, her experience of working with the enigmatic Phoenix and how her filmmaking style has evolved over time.

By Sarah Bradbury. First published on The Upcoming on 15th October 2017.
Video: Filippo L’Astorina

The Shape of Water is released nationwide on 16th February 2018. Read our review here.

For further information about the event visit the official BFI website here.