‘Men’ Review: Putting the ‘Male’ in Malevolent

Not that there is anything academic about Harper’s ordeal. A resident of London, she arrives in the Cotswolds fresh from a horrific experience that will be expanded in periodic flashbacks. The gist is clear enough right away: After an argument during which he bloodied her nose, Harper’s husband, James (Paapa Essiedu), died, apparently by suicide.

A more conventional version of her story might tease the possibility that what follows is in Harper’s head, that the various guys who torment, terrify and annoy her in the countryside are manifestations of unprocessed grief, guilt and rage. But “Men,” for all its attention to her state of mind — and in spite of Buckley’s exquisitely sensitive performance — isn’t really a psychological thriller. It’s committed to the literal reality and symbolic meaning of events that occur in an uncanny zone between the ordinary and the supernatural.

The fellow from whom Harper rents the house — she describes him as “a very particular type” and “very country” — is a toothy, upper-crusty twit played by Rory Kinnear. Everyone else in and around the nearby village is also played by Kinnear, including a young boy, a pompous vicar, a policeman, a publican and the naked man who appears outside the living room window.

Harper is alarmed by this intrusion, but seems not to notice that all the men she encounters share the same face. There are two other women in the movie, Harper’s friend Riley (Gayle Rankin), who sometimes shows up in a video chat, and a police officer (Sarah Twomey) who is sympathetic but not especially helpful.