It is a truth universally acknowledged that when Andrew Scott is on the screen you’re not looking at anyone else. He has the presence of a Brando, a De Niro, an Al Pacino. And in Pressure (12A), he has their signature tune of being a simmering volcano to boot.
I’m using a meteorological metaphor to describe him because this is a film mostly about the weather. It’s so much a part of it that when the D-Day invasion at its core finally happens, it’s almost like an anti-climax.
Scott plays James Stagg, a Scottish meteorologist overseeing preparations for the impending landing of soldiers at Normandy on June 6, 1944. The people he works with have more optimistic notions about what the weather is going to be like on June 4, the original date that was planned for the landing.
Stagg disagrees, pointing to the dangers of waves that could wipe out the troops before they’ve even had a chance to fire a bullet at the Nazis.
A war of words erupts. General Eisenhower (Brendan Fraser) is caught in the crosshairs. His soldiers are ready to roll. He wants boots on the beaches pronto. Stagg advises caution until the storm clouds lift.
The tension is brilliantly controlled by director Anthony Maras. Scott steals the film with his quiet dignity.
He plays a character who’s suffering his own private demons due to a crisis in his wife’s life. He manages to keep a stiff upper lip for most of the time. This means that when his emotions erupt either into rage or compassion, they’re doubly powerful.
Stagg is a man of great conscientiousness and subtle knowledge. He wears the latter quality lightly but when he’s challenged by smart alecs like the smug, self-satisfied Irving Krick (Chris Messina) he lets fly.
Scott’s main relationship in the film is to the camera. The only person offering him guarded warmth is Eisenhower’s secretary Kay (Kerry Condon). She has a lovely Irish face and accent. Though she’s tied to Eisenhower by her position, she spots Stagg’s genius early.
It’s actually another Irish person, the unseen Maureen Sweeney, who provides the main historical catalyst for the landing from, no kidding, Blacksod Bay.
Pressure has a thin plot but still manages to be absorbing. I can’t recommend it enough. It will reduce you to tears in its final moments.
We hear a lot about climate change these days but back in 1944 it meant something much different to our contemporary worries about flash floods, earthquakes and tsunamis. In that year, the weather could have meant the difference between winning and losing World War II.
Here it changes in a scene where Scott sits under a tree and a breeze gently waves its way across a field. It’s the most dramatic scene in the film, even more so than the one where Eisenhower’s troops charge from their ships onto Normandy beach to launch the freedom of Europe. That’s the power of nuance.
