SUNDANCE: ‘The Ballad of Wallis Island’ Shows The Transformative Power of Acceptance

The Ballad of Wallis Island took 18 years to get made. Directed by James Griffiths and written by Tom Basden and Tim Key (who also led the film’s cast), the film’s premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival marked the completion of a long journey of turning the short film The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island, into a feature-length heartwarming comedy.

Starring Basden, Key, Carey Mulligan, Sian Clifford, Akemnji Ndifornyen, and Steve Marsh, The Ballad of Wallis Island centers on a former music duo, McGwyer Mortimer, who are brought back together by an eccentric lottery winner for a private gig to an audience of one.

Eccentric lottery winner Charles dreams of getting his favorite musician, McGwyer Mortimer, back together. His fantasy turns into reality when the bandmates and former lovers accept his invitation to play a private show at his home on Wallis Island. But Herb Mortimer and Nell McGwyer aren’t just former bandmates; they’re also former lovers who haven’t talked to each other for almost a decade.

Old tensions resurface, and the reasons that Nell and Herb split up begin to become obvious. But this gig on Wallis Island is Charles’s dream and the perfect way to remember his deceased wife. Pulled together by the clumsy and spacey Charlie, Nell, and Herb begin to spend more time together and even spend a day where everything feels like the old times again.

The Ballad of Wallis Island’s cast offers heartfelt comedy greatness.

But rekindling the past isn’t why The Ballad of Wallis Island exists. This comedy is about what you do after losing someone who defines you and what goes with them. This film is funny, lovely, and adorable, and it has a touch of melancholy that lives beneath the jokes that make it all compelling.

The Ballad of Wallis Island’s ensemble cast is wonderful on screen. They’re adorable in their mistakes, endearing in their eccentricities, and wholeheartedly relatable every other time. But it’s Tom Basden’s performance as the comedic heart of the film that makes it something special. Charlie consistently makes you say “oh no,” but never in a way that makes you dislike him. Like Wallis Island, Charlie is humble, modest, and just far enough from the whole wide world to make his jokes always land as innocent and spacey, never disrespectful.

Charlie and Herb become an odd couple, two opposites who get to learn from and about each other. Charlie’s kindness is met with annoyance from Herb. Despite the constant backhanded exchanges, Charlie never gives up, trying to see the best in Herb. He knows that hurt people hurt people, and kindness is the only way he knows to meet people.

Charlie is the heart of the film, and his kindness allows us all to feel at home.

His temperament changes as Herb begins to understand who he is without Nell and, ultimately, who is outside his music. The meanness starts to wane, and he begins to see a new life. Not one chasing what he used to have.

Loss is powerful in The Ballad of Wallis Island. But perhaps the film’s most important element is that loss, traditionally shown as negative, is always more complex. In Charlie’s grief, it will never be okay that he didn’t have more time with his wife. But he still grows from it and learns through acceptance that there is more life to live. For Herb, loss is devastating, but it turns out extremely necessary. He is better once he can accept loss and, more importantly, not resent it.

The joy and hope in The Ballad of Wallis Island is something we need right now. It is a testament to what comes after, and maybe more importantly, that there is an after. It’s a film that brings people together by pulling people apart. With breathtaking and personal performances, this film drives an appreciation for life and love with a deft hand.

The Ballad of Wallis Island premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.