Talented and ambitious hairstylists gather for a competition, only to find one of their own murdered before judging can begin. Winding through neon-lit halls and dressing rooms, competitors unspool their secrets as they search for the killer among them. A film by Thomas Hardiman, starring Luke Pasqualino, Lilit Lesser, Clare Perkins, Kayla Meikle, Debris Stevenson, Heider Ali, Kae Alexander, Harriet Webb, Nicholas Karimi, Anita-Joy Uwajeh, and John Roberts.

At an annual regional hairdressing competition, stylist Mosca is found dead. The police arrive and begin their investigation, looking for potential suspects. They discover that Mosca’s scalp has been removed. The other stylists are busy preparing their models for the competition, while they gossip and speculate about who among them might be the killer. This is essentially the plot of the film.

There are no visible detectives, only a few policemen and police cars parked outside the building. There is no formal interrogation, but the hairstylists are nevertheless interrogating each other, as if trying to piece together what happened. Someone is telling someone else what to say or not to say to the police.

We witness this story unfold through a single, unbroken shot that follows the characters from one scene to the next, as if the film was shot entirely in a single take. Although some of the scenes feel deliberately slow-paced, with little action taking place, such as the one where a character walks down a long and narrow hallway. This technique is normally used to create a sense of tension and suspense, as the viewer is forced to focus on the character’s movements and surroundings, but there is nothing literally going on.

My favorite scene is the one where the hair is set ablaze, as the camera gorgeously tracks from the tip of a cigarette to the illuminated ship model that falls to the ground and shatters.

British murder mystery film written and directed by Thomas Hardiman in his directorial debut, is visually striking but ultimately fails to deliver the suspense and excitement of a classic whodunit.

The film loses its momentum by introducing too many characters, which fails to keep the audience emotionally invested. The pacing is slow, and by the time the killer is revealed, the audience no longer cares who it is or why the murder was committed. It feels like the entire plot is simply a pretext for the final dance sequence, which is quite fascinating and memorable.

MEDUSA DELUXE premiered at Locarno Film Festival on 6 August 2022. The film was theatrically released in the United Kingdom on 9 June 2023 by MUBI, and was theatrically released in the United States on 11 August by A24.