Mulan

Synopsis

The waiting area of a children’s ward in an NHS hospital, present day

In a sterile hospital waiting room, the air thick with antiseptic and unspoken accusations, Jason and Michelle sit on the precipice of their crumbling marriage. As Disney’s “Mulan” flickers on a wall-mounted TV, casting dancing shadows across their faces, the couple engages in a verbal sparring match that is as absurd as it is devastating.

Jason, his eyes wild with a mixture of hurt and barely contained rage, latches onto the animated warrior princess as if she were the linchpin of his entire worldview. “I blame Mulan for pretty much everything that went wrong in our marriage,” he declares, his voice a trembling mix of conviction and desperation. Michelle, torn between exasperation and a gnawing guilt, can only watch as her husband’s grievances spiral from cultural appropriation to their decision to live in Maidstone, Kent.

Thompson’s razor-sharp dialogue crackles with dark humour and raw emotion as Jason and Michelle dance around the real issues plaguing their relationship. In Mulan, Thompson peels back the layers of a seemingly ordinary couple to reveal the complex web of cultural identity, parental anxiety, and marital disappointment that binds them together even as it tears them apart.