Nostalgie

Bluesky

Nostalgie is a film made for two audiences. Its central character sits with one of them, and, though seeing and hearing the same things, does not perceive what the other does. About two thirds of the way through, both come slamming together, and the aftermath is dazed, dreamlike, because few will want to believe it, even if they’ve known it all along.

Aiden Gillen plays Drew Lord Haig, a businessman in his fifties who, way back in the 1980s, enjoyed a brief career as a pop star, rocketing into the charts with his titular hit. He rode the wave whilst he could but is long past the point where he entertained serious hopes of a comeback, much as he loved it all, so it’s a surprise to him when he’s invited to Belfast by a club which is celebrating its centenary and wants him to perform at the big event. On the way over, he chats to a young woman on the ferry, tells her that he’s reading Anna Burns’ Milkman, seems to imagine that it’s opening up all of Ireland’s secrets to him. He’s an innocent in his way, but with that particular kind of innocence that can taste bitter to others, the kind that comes from being unimaginably sheltered.

In Belfast, he picks up his hire car, takes to the road. The venue is a little further out of the centre than he expected, in a place not usually frequented by tourists. He notices that it looks a bit run down. He doesn’t really notice the content of the graffiti, nor take in the meaning of the murals he passes. One hint after another passes over his tousled head, whilst half the audience will be on the edge of their seats. Later, watching him apply a bit of mascara in his tiny dressing room will set pulses racing, but not for the reason he might have hoped.

Dan Smith’s music is perfect, with snippets of several other songs from Drew’s set as well as the title song, built around a line from the Wendy Erskine story on which this is based. it genuinely sounds like an Eighties hit, and Gillen, who based elements of the character on his own clubbing experiences from the period, carries it superbly. It’s a song that recalls the happiest period of Drew’s life – but what might it mean to the suddenly enthusiastic crowd for which he is performing?

A nominee in the 2026 BAFTAs, Nostalgie subsequently qualified to compete in the 2027 Oscars. It’s an exceptional piece of filmmaking, highly specific in relation to time and place, and with a quietly devastating final scene addressing the challenges of redemption. It recalls a time which many have been happy to forget, yet reminds us again that, as Faulkner warned, the past is never dead; it’s not even past.

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