It’s easy for an adaptation of a piece of writing to lose character depth or interiority in the translation between media forms. Especially for stories featuring a single protagonist who is largely on their journey alone, each filmmaker’s different approach to overcoming this obstacle is unique. For Megan Hunter’s novel The End We Start From, this would be one such obstacle faced by any filmmaker adapting the text, but in her 2023 film adaptation of the same title, director Mahalia Belo overcomes this barrier with a beautiful exploration of the future England first created by Hunter. The film follows a mother and her infant child, as they survive in a future world after flooding natural disasters have destroyed much of England’s cities and taken countless lives. With a stunning performance by Jodie Comer as the mother, as well as a tight screenplay that translates the episodic story of the novel, Mahalia Belo shows promise in directing after her first feature film.

The End We Start From follows a new mother and father as they raise their first child in the aftermath of devastating natural disasters in England that caused ferocious and deadly flooding. Escaping the now unliveable city the used to call home, the pair try to find a new place to live. When the circumstances at a relief shelter call for the separation of the family, the mother and child journey through this future England to find a safe place to live, while also trying to find their way back to the father. Similar to a road trip film, The End We Start From is organized into informal episodes, with the mother and child meeting new people along the way who share vastly different beliefs on England after the floods and what they call home.

Without every thought the mother has dictated onto a page as they are in the novel, Jodie Comer faces the unique challenge in this film of conveying the emotions of a woman who is alone with her infant for large amounts of time. Due to her obvious commitment to the character and her chops as an actor, as well as decisive direction from Belo, Comer achieves a performance that beautifully captures the interiority of the mother she plays. With virtually no scene comer is absent from, her presence in the film is one to be reckoned with, forcing chemistry with everyone she encounters along her journey. Comer is supported by a strong performance by Katherine Waterson, playing a friend she meets along the way who is also raising a baby alone, as well as a short but emotional performance from Joel Fry as her husband.

While of course an ode to the original novel, The End We Start From stands out from other disaster stories in its focus on the aftermath rather than the experiencing of the actual events. While flooding is shown in the beginning of the film as the mother gives birth, much of the story comes after, exploring how different people are trying to survive, and the motivations behind each different opinion. Throughout the film, those with differing opinions meet, like those living in the communes who try to forget the floods ever happened compared to those who are returning to the cities where they lost their loved ones for their own kind of closure. Although the mother has her own opinions that are made quite clear in the film, those with differing ones are presented with respect in the narrative, even if they are being viewed through the mother’s point of view. The screenplay allows each character’s motivations and intentions to be presented, allowing the viewers to suture themselves into the narrative, invoking thoughts on where they would stand in the aftermath of a disaster such as this one. This film is not a focus on the traumas of the fictional disaster England has faced itself, but rather an exploration of how the world may respond to these traumas in the follow-up.

In a world so filled with adaptation attempts of novels and existing IP, The End We Start From stands out in its ability to adapt the very interior main character from the page to the screen. Between a focussed screenplay and a brilliant performance by Jodie Comer as the mother at the centre of the story, Mahalia Belo’s latest film based on the novel of the same name is sure to please both audiences new to the mother’s story, and existing fans of the novel.

The End We Start From was screened at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival and will be released in the UK on January 24, 2024. Image courtesy of TIFF.