Audrey (Anna Walton) loses her husband in an auto accident. Feeling the wait of her loss, she dresses up, runs a bath, and slices her wrists. There is a knock at the door so she submerges herself underwater to wait for death, but death does not come for her…life does. Suffering from psychological strain, she rents a Welsh cottage for some alone time to get her head straight. She soon learns that she is not alone as there is a ghost of a young man haunting the cottage. After speaking with him, they begin a relationship that drives away the loneliness, but what will happen when she tries to leave?
Soulmate is – as I said before – a film about dealing with loneliness, rather than dealing with death. Audrey says she wants to be alone but it is truly the last thing she would ever want. This is what leads her into trouble, tempting a being that she doesn’t understand. Actress Anna Walton does a good job here. She never seems crazed or desperate, something this role could have easily been.
That is important since this is, for the most part, a two person narrative. Her partner in grieving,Tom Wisdom as the ghost of the former owner, Douglas, is charming but slightly off, giving a solid hint of danger to his performance.
Director Axelle Carolyn does a solid job in her debut, delving into the dark side of a subject that is usually romanticized in films like The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. It’s a quiet film, one that you need to lose yourself in rather than play in a loud room. The setting, performances and story demand your attention from first frame to last. Soulmate is a simple ghost story wrapped in love and filled with desperation. Well worth a look.
