Imagine that love at first sight was real, a disorder with such force that it could replay across multiple lifetimes. This is the premise at the heart of Timestalker, a hybrid horror/comedy/fantasy film that explores the power of love to transcend time and space. The catch, however, is that if you find a soulmate, something that is treated like an incredibly lucky and precious thing, they might be kind of terrible.
Agnes—played by Alice Lowe in the triple-pronged role of writer, director, and lead actor—is reincarnated in different eras, where she is repeatedly thrown into the orbit of Alex, a man she is obsessed with. Unfortunately, this universe-altering love is one-sided, and Agnes directs her unwavering devotion towards a man who is solipsistic, fame-hungry, and not especially interested in his admirer. Even worse, Agnes’ encounters with Alex repeatedly end in her premature—and gruesome—death.
Timestalker opens in 1688 Scotland, where Agnes is a weaver who falls in love with Alex, a Preacher being put to death. In 1793, she is a Rococo-styled upper-class Englishwoman who wants for nothing yet grieves for something she has lost, which she realizes is Alex, a highwayman who tries to rob her. Agnes moves to Manhattan in 1980 to pursue Alex, now a New Romantic pop star, and becomes his stalker. There are also scenes in 1847, 1940, 2117, and an undated prehistoric time, suggesting that this relationship has played out across millions of years.
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If Agnes and Alex are soulmates, they are misaligned, caught in a seemingly never-ending loop of doomed encounters. Like the caged bird that reappears through the eras, they might be trapped, with forces much larger than them at play. As if overtaken by something beyond her control, Agnes is driven by an inexplicable desire. She is so self-absorbed in her longing, so committed to hunting down Alex, that she fails to notice that he is not the right man for her.
But not only are Agnes and Alex reincarnated. There is the vile George, loyal Meg, and agitator Scipio. Each time, these characters play similar roles, suggesting they too are caught in the loop, doomed to forever repeat their failures and suffer their own passions. Agnes might be some sort of vortex, pulling these people towards her, time after time, to replay their parts in her story and, unfortunately, witness her deaths.
Timestalker has a dark humor, reveling in gore and misfortune complemented by deadpan delivery. A sense of inevitability compounds throughout the film, but this is balanced with levity. Where the repetition could be tedious—an issue for many looping films—Timestalker is unerringly interesting. This is, in part, due to its aesthetic.
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The production design is charming and playful, maintaining a cohesive style across the eras while also paying attention to historical elements like the settings, costuming, and props. An aerobics class, for example, is a clear means to highlight the fashion—leotards, legwarmers, perms—in a very 80s pastime. There is a throughline of heart-shapes—a wig, a beauty spot, a mysterious heart in the woods. There is also a lot of pink, from the out-of-place wool in the 17th century to the cat in the 18th century, to the vast pink room in a place out of time.
In Timestalker, Lowe crafts an audacious, funny, and overall delightful second film, one that raises big existential questions about love, destiny, and the nature of time. Maybe we have agency in our lives, or maybe we’re just being flung around by a universe with an irreverent sense of humor. Ultimately, Timestalker is unrepentantly about love. It might seem foolish, reckless, and utterly senseless to others, but even if it’s a mistake, even if we don’t get another chance, we do it anyway.
Summary
With her second feature film, Alice Lowe crafts an audacious, funny, and overall delightful tale about love, destiny, and the nature of time.
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