Benedict Cumberbatch stars in Dylan Southern's grief drama 'The Thing with Feathers' at Berlinale

Dylan Southern's film 'The Thing with Feathers', adapted from Max Porter's 2016 novel, premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in the Berlinale Special Gala section. The festival was the first under the direction of Tricia Tuttle. Benedict Cumberbatch plays a widowed father grappling with loss alongside his two young children, while David Thewlis voices the Crow, a creature from the protagonist's imagination that embodies grief. Cumberbatch praised Southern's adaptation for capturing the kinetic poetry of Porter's book and its shifts between domestic reality and mythic fantasy. Southern described the novel as a unique blend of prose and poetry that deeply moved him. The film explores the duality of ordinary life and expressionistic scenes where the Crow takes over, illustrating how grief can be both destructive and transformative. The source article was written by Margherita Bordino for Artribune.