Beast

Beast is a 2017 British psychological thriller film written and directed by Michael Pearce, starring Jessie Buckley, Johnny Flynn and Geraldine James. The film had its world premiere in the Platform section at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. Plot Treated by her controlling and vicious mother as flawed and a burden, 27-year-old Moll works as a tour guide in Jersey while living with her wealthy parents. She is expected to help care for her father, who suffers from dementia, and to provide babysitting for her niece. The island community is on-edge following a string of unsolved rape/murders of young girls. During Moll's birthday party, her sister hijacks the reception by announcing she is pregnant. Feeling undervalued by her family, Moll engages in self harm and then leaves the party for a nightclub where she meets a man; they dance, but in the morning as they walk on the beach, he begins forcing himself on her despite her pleas for him to stop. At that moment a poacher with a hunting rifle rescues her. She is drawn to this young man, Pascal, craving love and excitement, although she is warned by family that he is a low class loser. As their relationship blossoms, Moll reveals to him that as a teenager she stabbed a classmate with scissors, claiming it was in self-defence. He shows his support for her.