The movie Paul Mescal calls an unforgettable “masterpiece”
During the first lockdown in 2020, trapped inside our houses with nothing to do besides binge-watch television, BBC released a miniseries that would quickly become a sensation. Normal People, based on Sally Rooney’s best-selling novel of the same name, stars Paul Mescal as Connell Waldron, one of two protagonists whose lives intertwine through high school and university.
Acting alongside Daisy Edgar Jones, Mescal demonstrated immense skill in portraying the popular yet quietly sensitive student who finds the transition to higher education isolating and oppressive. Mescal gives his character great nuance, depicting his fall into depression with incredible honesty. In one standout scene, Mescal gives an emotionally devastating performance as he breaks down in a therapist’s office.
The show marked Mescal’s first on-screen appearance, yet he won a Bafta TV Award for ‘Best Actor’ and was nominated for several other illustrious accolades. Soon after, Mescal was in high demand, making his film debut in The Lost Daughter the following year. However, Mescal impressed critics further after he landed the role of a depressed father holidaying with his young daughter in Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun.
His touching performance resulted in an Oscar nomination for the actor, cementing him as one of the decade’s fastest-rising stars. With recent roles in Foe, All of Us Strangers, God’s Creatures and an upcoming part in Gladiators 2, Mescal is set for even greater heights.
To refine his acting skills, Mescal has looked to a wide array of movies for inspiration. From A Streetcar Named Desire to Marriage Story, the Irish actor has studied these films and the actors’ performances to achieve greatness. However, there’s one movie that he dubbed a “masterpiece,” one that completely knocked him out and left him unable to forget it.
Mescal told A.Frame that László Nemes’ 2015 movie Son of Saul is one of his favourite movies, highlighting the way Nemes, his actors and the cinematographer Mátyás Erdély seem to work so well together.
He called László Nemes “a wonderful director,” adding: “It’s my favourite film of the last 10 years. It’s just a masterpiece”. Expanding on his love for the movie, which was Nemes’ directorial debut, Mescal said: “I recently got to work with the DP [Mátyás Erdély] who shot Son of Saul, and the first 10 minutes of that are where I feel like a super talented actor meets director meets DP — which only can happen in film.”
The actor continued, “A different kind of alchemy happens on stage. But that first 10 minutes, I remember my jaw being on the ground and being like, ‘This is a masterpiece.’ And, really, trigger warning. It’s really upsetting. It’s a Holocaust film that is pretty brutal.”
