She Geek Critique – Missing a Day

A dystopian near-future, over population destroying the environment, scientific advancements creating super crops and a surge of multiple-child births requiring single-child laws. This is the not-as-compicated-as-it-sounds premise for What Happened to Monday, a 2017 Netflix action thriller starring Noomi Rapace, Willem Dafoe and Glenn Close. 

In a world where families are allowed only one child, a women gives birth to seven girls and their grandfather decides to keep them all in secret. Each is named after a day of the week and, as they grow up, the girls take on a single persona outside of their home, each allowed to go out in public on the day after which they are named. As adults, they share an office job, letting each other know what goes on during the day at a nightly review. Everything is fine until one week, Monday never comes home from work.

The movie starts with a very quick review of how the world got to this point, why the Child Allocation Bureau exists and what they do. It’s a relatively straightforward plot with a lot of action and even a twist near the end (though I didn’t find it surprising). At two hours, the film is a bit long and there are definitely spots that could have been trimmed. But the thing that makes this worth watching is the performance of Noomi Rapace. Pulling an Orphan Black move, she plays all seven sisters to great effect, giving each a personality distinct enough to forget they are all one actress. Anyone who enjoys dystopian action should consider What Happened to Monday.

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