Agnès Merlet

HIDEAWAYS

LAST FURLONG (THE)

Screening room

Status: Completed

Director(s): Agnès Merlet

Main cast: Rachel Hurd-Wood, Harry Treadaway, Thomas Brodie-Sangster

Long synopsis : A curse is just a blessing ignored… James Furlong is the last in a long line of Furlongs, each blessed or cursed with a supernatural power. Growing up in remote Ireland, the boy begins to experiment, longing to discover his hidden gift. But instead, his experiments lead to the death of his family’s livestock, followed swiftly by the loss of his father and beloved grandmother. By the time he’s 10, James is the sole surviving Furlong. He is sent to a reformatory. An outcast, he is bullied mercilessly. Following a cruel attack by the other boys, a mysterious illness sweeps through the reformatory. Finally understanding the terrible destructive nature of his hidden powers, James flees. Years pass. On the run from hospital where she is being treated for cancer, Mae, 19, comes across James in his isolated cottage deep in the woods. He is terrified of harming her, but Mae has already resigned herself to her fate and is afraid of very little - certainly not of this gentle, innocent stranger. Even when she learns his story, she is unafraid, and urges him to leave his lonely life behind, to return to the world. They embark on a passionate romance that leads James on a journey back to civilization, and sets him on a collision course with Liam, sole survivor of the reformatory tragedy. Bent on vengeance, Liam confronts James with the violence of his past, but through Mae, James also uncovers the full extent of his abilities and the redemptive power of love.