Aoife McArdle gives places time to become unsettling, and we rate the patience she brings to Severance. Her debut feature, Kissing Candice, also suggests the danger: a strong atmosphere can outlast our interest in what happens.
Fi1m perspective
Lumon’s offices in Severance (2022) look almost familiar, which makes them harder to trust. Aoife McArdle and fellow director Ben Stiller let that uncertainty persist rather than hurrying to the next incident. We were unsettled by the workplace because its retro-futurist design denied us the comfort of knowing quite what period it belonged to. McArdle’s willingness to stay with discomfort is a considerable strength here: the office has time to become oppressive without losing its absurdity.
Her music videos for artists including Bloc Party and Jon Hopkins help explain the importance of rhythm and sound in her storytelling. Her debut feature, Kissing Candice (2018), brought a heightened, dreamlike treatment to the Irish border. It also exposed a weakness: the images and atmosphere can hold our attention while the narrative loses its way. Television directing followed with Brave New World (2020); she also made the short All of This Unreal Time (2021), starring Cillian Murphy. These are different formats for a persistent interest in dreams, identity and escape.
Severance also shows why the collaborators matter. Jeremy Hindle’s production design supplies the offices’ uncertain period, while cinematographer Jessica Lee Gagné makes the distinction between the workplace and the outside world clear enough to carry part of the story. Theodore Shapiro’s music sustains the unease without smothering the humour, allowing the directors to sit with awkwardness rather than insist on dread. McArdle and Stiller give those contributions time to work, and the programme is funnier for not hurrying us away from discomfort.
The reservation is that patience needs a limit. The first season of Severance takes too long to gather pace, although its workplace satire earns the effort of staying with it. We would like McArdle’s future films to give their stories the same care she gives their surroundings. Start with Severance, provided a slow opening is not enough to put an end to the evening.
Biography
Aoife McArdle is a Northern Irish writer and director working in film, television, music videos and commercials. She grew up in Omagh, County Tyrone, studied English Literature at Trinity College Dublin and completed a master's degree in Film and TV production at Bournemouth University. She began her career in London in 2005.
McArdle has directed music videos for artists including Bloc Party, Jon Hopkins, Bryan Ferry, Coldplay, Bicep, U2 and Anna Calvi, as well as commercials for brands such as Nike, Audi and Squarespace. Her debut feature film Kissing Candice premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2017 and screened at the Berlin International Film Festival. She directed episodes of the series Brave New World (2020) and Severance (2022), on which she also served as producer.
For her work on Severance, McArdle received nominations from the Directors Guild of America and the Primetime Emmy Awards. She has won an IFTA Rising Star Award and a Women in Film & Television Best Director Award.
