--- title: "The Dig" year: 2021 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-dig" fi1m_score: 68 critics_score: 73 critics_reviews: 25 published: "2026-09-18T08:57:07.002665+00:00" updated: "2026-09-18T08:57:36.496778+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Dig (2021) Directed by Simon Stone · 1h 52m · MPA PG-13 · Drama, History **Fi1m score: 68** · Critics 73 from 25 reviews *In a sentence:* Ralph Fiennes finds a ship in a Suffolk field and the film keeps wandering off to see who is kissing whom > Simon Stone’s account of the Sutton Hoo dig is handsomely shot and quietly acted, with Fiennes and Mulligan doing careful, unshowy work in the trench. It is at its best down there and weakest whenever it climbs out, which in the second half is often. ## Synopsis Suffolk, the summer of 1939. Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan), a widow with a young son, Robert (Archie Barnes), and a heart she has been told not to trust, owns the house at Sutton Hoo and the grassed-over mounds in its grounds. She hires Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes), a self-taught excavator lent by the local museum, to open them; he asks for more money than she offers, and moves into a hut on the estate while his wife May (Monica Dolan) keeps house without him. Brown chooses the mound nobody else thinks worth the trouble. As war comes closer and aircraft cross the estuary, rivets appear in the sand, and the outline of a ship. Word reaches the British Museum, and Charles Phillips (Ken Stott) arrives to take charge. ## Review In the summer of 1939, on a Suffolk estate, a self-taught excavator called Basil Brown opened a mound everyone else had passed over and found an Anglo-Saxon burial ship. Simon Stone’s film, from Moira Buffini’s screenplay of John Preston’s novel, is about the digging and the two people either side of it: Brown (Ralph Fiennes), who reads soil the way other men read newsprint, and Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan), the widow who pays him and is not well. For an hour it is a film about what the ground keeps and gives back. Then more people arrive, and it becomes a film about them instead. Fiennes plays Brown with a flat cap, a Suffolk vowel and almost no gestures. He rubs earth between finger and thumb and says less than anyone else in the frame, and the film is right to trust him. Mulligan plays a woman a good deal older than herself, and rather than age up she plays tiredness: a straight back that costs her something, a smile arriving a beat late. Their scenes together are conversations between two people who have each decided the other is worth listening to, and the film is best when it asks nothing more of them. Mike Eley shoots Suffolk with the horizon low and the sky taking most of the picture, the sun always going down or just up, faces half in shadow so we lean in to read them. Jon Harris cuts a lot of the talk loose from the mouths saying it: a conversation runs on over two figures walking away across a field. Sometimes the dialogue feels remembered rather than heard, which suits a film about time; sometimes a plain scene of two people talking would have done. Stefan Gregory’s score is piano and strings kept low, and it knows when to stop. Maria Djurkovic gives the house its faded chintz and the dig its tarpaulins and planks, and Alice Babidge puts Fiennes in a waistcoat that looks slept in and Mulligan in silks that look inherited. Here is what got us. Early on, a wall of the trench gives way and Brown is under it, shown first in wide shot, people running across grass, then in close: hands, sand, a face. Later the first rusted rivets come up out of the earth in a line, and Brown understands before anyone else what that means. There is no swell on the score and no speech. Fiennes goes still, Mulligan watches him, and we felt a lift under the ribs we had not been braced for. It is the whole film in forty seconds, and it never quite manages it again. The second half is the problem. Ken Stott’s Charles Phillips arrives from the British Museum to take the dig off Brown, and the film has a real subject there, about who owns a discovery, but spends its time elsewhere. Lily James’s Peggy Piggott, newly married to Ben Chaplin’s Stuart, drifts towards Johnny Flynn’s Rory Lomax, Edith’s cousin, who has a camera and a call-up coming. James and Flynn are likeable, but every one of their scenes belongs to a thinner film, and each time we were taken to them we wanted to go back to the hole. Monica Dolan, as Brown’s wife May, gets two scenes and makes more of them than the romance manages in twenty minutes. As British heritage drama, this is more interesting than most: Stone’s cutting and Eley’s skies push at the form even where the story does not. What it never does is tell us why Sutton Hoo mattered. Anglo-Saxon is said with reverence, Phillips says the find will change everything, and we take his word for it. The film knows a great deal about loneliness and rather little about archaeology, which is a fair choice, but the title promised otherwise. It runs 112 minutes and carries a 12A, and is a good evening for anyone who likes their period drama quiet and their fields wide. Watch it as the light is going, which is roughly how Eley shot it, and forgive it the second half for the sake of the first. *Fi1m score 68, published 18 September 2026.* ## What the critics say The reviews lean warm, and the praise gathers almost entirely around Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan. Most critics see the alliance between a self-taught archaeologist and a wealthy widow as the film’s heart, and several remark on how much feeling the two convey without saying it aloud. The Suffolk landscape, shot with a widescreen sweep, earns steady credit, and the film’s gentle, unhurried handling of time and mortality is generally taken as a virtue rather than a want of nerve. The reservations are just as consistent. A romantic subplot involving Lily James is repeatedly described as a distraction from the central pair, and a number of critics wish the film had spent more of its running time on the excavation itself. Nobody dislikes it, but the spread is wide: The Times finds it piercing and unmissable, while Empire says it lacks fire and Eye for Film considers it a missed opportunity. ### Reviews we read (25) - **The Times** (★★★★★): The film is an extraordinary, emotionally piercing and intoxicating drama about the pull of the past, with career-high turns from Fiennes and Mulligan and ambitious direction evoking Malick. It is serious, intellectually committed cinema that is unmissable. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/the-dig-review-emotionally-piercing-and-intoxicating-drama-about-the-pull-of-the-past-xjsdd2szz) - **Los Angeles Times**, Kevin Crust (90/100, inferred): The characters are vivid and multidimensional, the milieu inviting, and the circumstances compelling in this old-fashioned story told in an unexpected way. It is bathed in warm nostalgia and romanticism steeped in British stoicism, allowing room for melancholy, sharp wit, and genuine wonder. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2021-01-29/dig-netflix-review-fiennes-mulligan) - **Screen Daily** (90/100, inferred): The film is charming, moving old-fashioned heritage cinema with strong performances from Fiennes and Mulligan and top-level craft that conveys real emotion about the fragility of lives and time. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/the-dig-review-netflix/5156042.article) - **Vulture**, Bilge Ebiri (85/100, inferred): The review praises the film's moving, elliptical style that connects personal lives to broader history and existence, singling out the glorious performances of Fiennes and Mulligan for conveying deep, unspoken emotion. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/article/review-netflixs-the-dig-with-ralph-fiennes-carey-mulligan.html) - **IndieWire**, Steve Greene (80/100, inferred): The review highlights the crackling chemistry between Mulligan and Fiennes as the bittersweet core of this quiet drama about history's persistence, while noting that surrounding subplots and characters often feel superfluous. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/the-dig-review-netflix-carey-mulligan-ralph-fiennes-1234612538/) - **Slant Magazine**, Dan Rubins (80/100, inferred): The critic commends the film for its eloquent focus on history, mortality, and human connections through strong performances, particularly Mulligan and Fiennes, and its reverence for the past amid personal and national transitions. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-dig-review-carey-mulligan-ralph-fiennes/) - **The Telegraph**, Robbie Collin (4/5): The film is a beautiful, heartfelt period tale that draws a line between the earthy and the ethereal, with strong performances from the cast exploring themes of history and mortality. It notes that the story is ultimately conventional but still consoling and escapist. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/ralph-fienness-sutton-hoo-drama-dig-beautiful-heartfelt-period/) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, David Rooney (75/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a somewhat awkward but satisfying period drama with strong performances from Mulligan and Fiennes, praising their rapport and the film's gentle melancholy and restraint despite an uneven shift to ensemble storytelling. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/the-dig-film-review-4115501/) - **Financial Times**, Danny Leigh (4): The film is sometimes hackneyed, sometimes marvellous, with vivid performances from the leads and fresh direction that shoots the Suffolk landscape with widescreen grandeur. It features a standout underground sequence that is pure cinema. [Read](https://www.ft.com/content/53970324-800c-42d8-b3cf-75579105f89c) - **Sight and Sound** (70/100, inferred): The film is a modest heritage drama whose sincerity survives the Netflix touch, with strong performances from Fiennes and Mulligan anchoring an undemanding but pleasantly cathartic story of the Sutton Hoo discovery. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/dig-2021-ralph-fiennes-carey-mulligan-sutton-hoo-burial-mound-treasure-suffolk) - **The AV Club**, Katie Rife (B-): The critic describes the film as a stuffy adaptation that poetically explores themes of time, mortality, and repressed longing through elegant visuals, but faults its halting storytelling, inertia, and failure to deliver on promising ideas. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/carey-mulligan-and-ralph-fiennes-delve-for-meaning-in-t-1846042929) - **The Guardian** (70/100, inferred): The film is a gently understated period drama with charm to spare about the Sutton Hoo excavation, focusing on an unlikely friendship between a self-taught archaeologist and a wealthy widow. It praises the leads' performances and cinematography but notes a superfluous romantic subplot. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jan/31/the-dig-review-sutton-hoo-carey-mulligan-ralph-fiennes) - **The New York Times**, Glenn Kenny (70/100, inferred): The film is a consistently interesting and at times engrossing picture that declines to strike its notes with a hammer. It considers weighty themes including who owns history, class inequality, and the intertwining of sexual repression and loneliness while remaining scrupulous, sober, and tasteful. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/28/movies/the-dig-review.html) - **Variety**, Peter Debruge (70/100, inferred): The unhurried yet engaging project features meticulously calibrated performances from Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes as the leads explore a dynamic of mutual respect that transcends education and class. Director Simon Stone approaches the period piece in Merchant Ivory mode about making the most of fleeting friendships and loves. [Read](https://variety.com/2021/film/reviews/the-dig-review-carey-mulligan-ralph-fiennes-1234884358/) - **Evening Standard**, Charlotte O'Sullivan (65/100, inferred): The film is a wistfully cosy Netflix drama that benefits from an incredible cast and the strength of its source material despite taking liberties with history. It praises the performances, especially Mulligan's conveyance of loneliness and longing, but criticizes the casting of a younger actor in an older role and notes that the story could have been deeper. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/the-dig-netflix-review-b899840.html) - **Empire**, Ian Freer (60/100, inferred): The Dig is well played, especially by the leads, and visually gorgeous, but it lacks fire and ironically doesn’t get under the surface of its story. It gets by on strong performances, some gorgeous filmmaking and the idea of good people coming together, while noting the refreshing intellectual intimacy between the main characters rather than romance. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/the-dig/) - **Little White Lies**, David Jenkins (3/3/3): The film wheels out soft romantic subplots at the expense of the dig's drama and spends too little time conveying the historical importance of Sutton Hoo, but Carey Mulligan shines with sultry verve as Edith Pretty. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/the-dig) - **Radio Times** (3/5): Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan bring heart to the story of the Sutton Hoo excavation, with their odd-couple alliance engaging, but a romantic subplot involving Lily James proves an unwelcome distraction and the film could have dug deeper into Basil Brown's story. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-b8t0fj/the-dig/) - **The i Paper**, Geoffrey Macnab (3/5): The adaptation is less about the archaeology than about yearning, love and death in a class-stratified society, with early scenes often magical thanks to evocative cinematography. It highlights strong performances by Mulligan and Fiennes and the subtle treatment of their characters' inhibited relationship, though the second half loses some power as it explores other subplots. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/the-dig-netflix-review-carey-mulligan-and-ralph-fiennes-848100) - **Time Out**, Phil de Semlyen (3/5): This sun-soaked period drama is a gentle tonic with hidden emotional depths beneath its heritage trappings, though the romantic subplot distracts from the central odd-couple dynamic between Fiennes and Mulligan. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-dig) - **Paste**, Aparita Bhandari (8.7): The critic calls the film a lovely, meditative artifact and calming balm that offers a wonderful escape from reality. They single out the strong performances by Fiennes and Mulligan along with the film's respectful handling of the historical Sutton Hoo discovery. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/netflix/the-dig-review) - **Deadline**, Pete Hammond (85/100, inferred): The critic finds The Dig an entertaining and underappreciated British period drama that rewards viewers with its true story of an archaeological discovery on the eve of WWII. He singles out the splendid performances of Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes as the heart of the film, along with its exquisite cinematography. [Read](https://deadline.com/video/the-dig-review-carey-mulligan-ralph-fiennes-netflix/) - **Consequence** (65/100, inferred): The critic finds it a touching film that uses the archaeological discovery to explore how people cope with time and mortality. They single out the bucolic atmosphere and strong central performances but note it spends too much time on less compelling subplots. [Read](https://consequence.net/2021/01/film-review-the-dig/) - **Eye for Film**, Jennie Kermode (3/5): The critic notes strong leading performances and a handful of beautifully crafted scenes alongside much clunkier and more derivative material. Overall, the film feels like a missed opportunity despite the great subject of the Sutton Hoo find. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-dig-2021-film-review-by-jennie-kermode) - **Polygon**, Robert Daniels (60/100, inferred): The critic finds the film initially tedious and miscast in its early romance focus but ultimately praises its shift to a poignant meditation on mortality, legacy, and fleeting life. They single out the later emotional resonance around the historical discovery. [Read](https://www.polygon.com/22233336/the-dig-review/) ## Details - **Director:** Simon Stone - **Director:** Simon Stone - **Screenplay:** Moira Buffini - **Novel:** John Preston - **Cinematography:** Mike Eley - **Editor:** Jon Harris - **Music:** Stefan Gregory - **Production design:** Maria Djurkovic - **Costume design:** Alice Babidge - **Producer:** Gabrielle Tana, Ellie Wood, Murray Ferguson - **Cast:** Carey Mulligan as Edith Pretty; Ralph Fiennes as Basil Brown; Lily James as Peggy Piggott; Johnny Flynn as Rory Lomax; Ben Chaplin as Stuart Piggott; Ken Stott as Charles Phillips; Archie Barnes as Robert Pretty; Monica Dolan as May Brown - **Runtime:** 1h 52m - **Certificate (MPA):** PG-13 - **Release (the US):** 15 January 2021 - **Genres:** Drama, History - **Budget:** $15 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZQz0rkNajo ## Where to watch in the US - Netflix: streaming *Checked 2026-09-18.* Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, AZ, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, SK, TH, TR, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Detectorists* (2014), Fi1m 87: Two men, two metal detectors, one Essex field; the gentlest thing on television. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/detectorists.md) - *A Month in the Country* (1987): Colin Firth uncovers a church mural in 1920 Yorkshire; a close and quieter cousin. - *Mr. Turner* (2014): Timothy Spall grunts at the light; a craftsman in the landscape, told without fuss. - *The Garden of the Finzi-Continis* (1970): An Italian idyll in the last summer before the war, and everyone half knows it. - *Ammonite* (2020): Kate Winslet digs fossils out of the Dorset shore; colder, and just as unspoken. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-dig