Why does this film need to be made?
Not only do we believe in this film and its value as a piece of art but it also is an important story to tell through its intrinsic ability to highlight the importance of an animals capacity for empathy and the human need for an emotional connection, with feminist undertones highlighted in Eve's journey towards independence.
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- You can share this crowdfunding campaign to your friends and family
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And that's everything for the campaign, you can read on for more information about the film.
Story
Eve and her father Kane live on an isolated farm in the English midlands. She is a young
teenage girl, who has nothing in common with her father, who is an emotionally distant
man, only focused on the maintenance of his sheep farm.
Whilst completing her chores, Eve encounters a sheep who has strayed from the herd, and settled in the barn, whom she quickly develops a fondness for and names Mary. That evening at dinner, her father reveals that he also knows of Mary’s desertion, and attributes it to a suspected illness, which will lead to its inevitable death - implied to be something he will carry out. Eve decides to continue spending time with Mary anyway, which Kane warns will be fruitless.
Eve continues to spend time with Mary, talking to her as if she is an equal, and revealing things about herself in the process; including her mother being absent from her life, her rationale behind naming her Mary and inviting her to the house if Mary gets cold, also writing about time spent with Mary in her diary.. She ties a ribbon into Mary’s fleece as a way of making them match, as she often wears them in her hair.
However, when Kane comes to the house for dinner that night, Eve finds that he has taken the ribbon from Mary’s fleece and trampled it into the entryway, upsetting her as the dirt will not wash out. Kane warns her over their meal to not put ribbons on the sheep again, and is taken aback when she asks why, becoming frustrated as Eve continues to reassert her belief that Mary is fine and simply enjoys spending time in the barn, culminating in her being sent to her bedroom.
Later that night, she sneaks out to find Mary in the barn, still upset from what happened, and apologising to Mary for her ribbon being taken. She reaffirms her belief to Mary that even if Mary is sick, she will make her better. She falls asleep in the barn, narrowly making it back to the house before Kane was able to realise she had left.
They continue to spend time together, happily bonding while, unbeknownst to them, Kane watches over them angrily. One night, Eve shares a dream she had with Mary; where she wakes up feeling strange, and is only able to spit up blades of grass when she tries to speak, and finds Mary, only to discover she has become a sheep when seeing herself reflected in Mary’s eyes.
The next morning, when Kane is talking to her, Eve bleats unintentionally, barely able to convince her father it is simply a cough. She tells Mary about this occurrence, joking that she may now be able to talk to Mary properly. Kane watches from afar with a furious expression.
At dinner, Eve brings up the subject of Mary, claiming to her father that she thinks Mary is getting better. He becomes initially annoyed in Eve’s persistence at using Mary’s name, but after Eve bleats again, he becomes enraged, revealing he is aware she sleeps in the barn, and calls her an animal before sending her to her bedroom.
Once she is gone, Kane retrieves an axe, and steps outside only to find Mary already there by the front door. He accuses her of influencing his daughter’s behaviour, calling her sick and an animal, only calling her Mary as he is about to strike the killing blow.
Upstairs, Eve writes in her diary and cries, jumping to look out of her windows when the front door slams - Kane returning after killing Mary - but she can only see darkness.
The next morning, Kane shortly tells Eve she is staying in the house to clean the inside from top to bottom, and that the sheep have been taken to be shorn - which immediately strikes anxiety in Eve, as it is the wrong time of year. However, she complies to his demands and begins to work on the house, though she writes a diary entry about her fears. While cleaning the bathroom floor, she coughs, and finds an inexplicable blade of grass between her teeth, mirroring her dream.
She finds Kane cooking dinner - a task she usually undertakes - and he tiptoes around telling her what meat he has used, lying and saying it was on a special offer at the butchers. He reveals the sheep are back, but that Eve will not be spending as much time with them, as she comes to the slow realisation she is eating sheep, and begs her father to tell her the truth; he finally admits they are eating Mary. This sends Eve into a breakdown, and she stumbles outside, sobbing and throwing up as she screams for Mary. Kane watches, and tells her Mary was always sick and that this was inevitable, telling her to come inside when she calms down, before going to bed himself.
When he wakes up in the morning, he appears to feel some regret over his actions, checking for Eve in her bedroom and finding the muddy ribbon that had previously belonged to Mary. When he goes downstairs, he finds the house empty, and opens the front door to check outside for Eve. He finds a sheep standing, and once he sees Eve’s clothes discarded in the background, realises what has happened, only able to look on helplessly as Eve, now a sheep, walks away from him.
