Lindsay Duncan in A Banquet (IFC Midnight)

A Banquet centers on a family that is shattered after the husband/father dramatically kills himself because of a long and painful illness. The suicide is witnessed by the eldest daughter, 17-year-old Betsey (Jessica Alexander). This unmoors her, leaving her directionless until one night at a party, she steps out into the backyard and beholds a blood red moon and believes it is speaking to her, filling her with joy and purpose. Anorexia and potentially psychosis are the possibly causes of this behavior, which, understandably, troubles her mother, Holly (Sienna Guillory). Or, it could be some sort of possession. Director Ruth Paxton is maddeningly vague about this.

For her part, Holly is simultaneously fascinated and repulsed by this new manifestation of her daughter. Ever needing to be in control, she tries to manipulate Betsey to eat at the dinner table, resulting in Betsey experiencing a fairly intense choking fit. Her body seems to actively reject any type of food, yet she oddly does not seem to be losing weight. A physician assumes the cause is psychological. All the while Betsey insists that she hasn’t changed, she just doesn’t need her body anymore. Meanwhile, Holly’s youngest daughter, Isabella (Ruby Stokes), tries to go on as if everything is fine, but the pressure of the situation eventually affects her as well.

On the face of it, the movie is very handsome looking. The camera work is particularly fluid, and the production design is lovely. Working together, they enhance the sense of claustrophobia this tightly knit family feels under the tightly controlling grip of Holly. The house itself is all darkness and sleek angles. (I would go stir crazy too if I lived in such an unwelcoming place.) One understands the frustration that Holly feels as her daughter moves away from her and Isabella’s need for normalcy after the sudden death of her father. All of this is a testament to some pretty top-notch filmmaking.

Unfortunately, A Banquet, while bringing up a lot of intriguing ideas, never really follows through with them. It works quite well as a domestic drama but falls short as horror, and that’s how the makers seem to want it to be taken. There are plenty of spooky sound effects as well as a moody, ominous musical score. Though it touches on themes of body horror and possession, it never fully commits. It flirts with horror but turns away from it at the last second.

In fact, the real issue is if A Banquet needed to use horror tropes at all to enhance and comment on the character’s circumstances. Hereditary, while flawed, does this very well. It uses tension and unease of the unknown to bore down on that family’s dysfunction. The makers of A Banquet try to do the same thing, but the horror moments are disconnected from the actions they are commenting on and become repetitive. The food motif is particularly worked over. Also, when Betsey goes into “possession” mode, she lowers her head and stares intently through her bangs, a transformation you have seen over and over again. Though acting is overall commendable, only Lindsay Duncan as Holly’s clear-headed mother breaks through the muddle and gives a commanding performance by bringing a sense of unease to the proceedings. She seems to be the only one who has made a decision on what kind of film she’s in, and she sticks to her guns.

It’s a shame because A Banquet has a lot going for it, but it can’t seem to get out of its own way or, more pointedly, know which way it is going.