WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT? (RARE BEASTS)

Fair play to Billie Piper.

In theatre and television, she has created a space for herself playing flawed and often floundering 21st century women.

However with 'Rare Beasts,' she has taken that act to an even bigger stage - the big screen - and has written, starred in and directed what can only be described as a surreal, anti-romcom.

Piper's directorial debut sees her tackle the predicament of the thirtysomething woman juggling a career with the demands of being a single mother and societal expectations that she will have a perfect relationship.

Her character Mandy is building a career in an independent television production company.

However Mandy's ambition is tested by her family responsibilities.

Mandy's son, Toby Woolf's Larch is struggling with OCD.

Her grumpy mum Marion, played by Kerry Fox, is sapped of all her energy and joy, thanks to a feckless ex-husband, David Thewlis' Vic who would rather throw money at a trip to Thailand than provide any financial support for her.

While balancing the pressure of work, family and maintaining friendships during raucous nights out, Mandy is eager to provide stability for her and Larch.

However rather than achieving that, she somehow finds herself in a relationship with Leo Bill's obnoxious work colleague Pete.

Their's is a relationship that is the exact opposite of what you would expect.

On paper you would anticipate something straight out of a Richard Curtis romcom.

What you get is something much more chaotic, more spiteful and bleak.

Pete is a loud, pompous, misogynistic, emotionally stunted, defensive incel who is opinionated on issues he clearly knows little about - like what a woman wants.

He hails from a devout Christian family, taking Mandy to a wedding to meet his parents and siblings.

However despite his many deficiencies, the relationship rumbles on when you expect him to be cast aside after just one date.

Mandy doesn't find a handsome prince in a Boss suit.

She just settles for Pete.

Not everything about Pete is terrible - at times he does seem to have a way of connecting with Larch.

However Piper's anti-romcom poses a number of challenging and uncomfortable questions.

What happens if your fairytale prince doesn't come? 

Should you just settle for any relationship - no matter how dissatisfying?

How does a woman balance professional aspirations with societal expectations about her relationship status and family responsibilities? 

Smartly written and intelligently acted, Piper shows she has absorbed a lot over the years from the directors she has worked with - bringing a real visual flourish to the screen and deploying sound imaginatively.

She doesn't just throw herself into the project as its star, writer and director admirably but with considerable style.

Piper also takes risks, fully embracing the opportunity to go into flights of fancy like hearing the inner thoughts of passersby on the street or dream like sequences including one where she seems to flee the wedding.

She also elicits great performances from Fox, Thewlis, Woolf and particularly Bill who clearly relish how the movie skewers every romcom convention.

Lily James turns up in an amusing cameo as Cressida, a guest at the wedding.

And while Piper's sporadic departures from narrative convention occasionally feel a little forced, there is no doubting her audacity and her narrative ambition.

She also harnesses the talents of her crew effectively, making the most of Patrick Meller's cinematography and Hazel Baillie's editing.

'Rare Beasts' is yet another film that demands repeat viewing.

It asks a lot of its audience as it poses challenging questions about the role of women and the expectations society places on them.

It also underlines Piper's status as one of the more interesting stars to emerge in Britain over the past 15 years.

As an actor, writer and director, she has shown in a number of projects she is not afraid to draw upon her own life experiences to get to awkward truths about the world she inhabits.

With the right support, that can be fruitful as an artist.

However it can also go badly, as every career move is picked over and analysed to death for what it says about her.

'Rare Beasts' is nevertheless a good platform upon which Piper can launch a promising directorial career.

There is definitely a flavour of Paul Thomas Anderson's 'Punch Drunk Love' about 'Rare Beasts'.

But it is its uniquely feminist voice that makes it one of the most memorable movies to go on release in 2021.

('Rare Beasts' premiered at the Venice Film Festival on August 4, 2019 but was not released in cinemas and digitally in the UK and Ireland until May 21, 2021)