Review of “The Ballad of Wallis Island”

“The Ballad of Wallis Island” (2025), now streaming on Peacock, is based on a short (25 minutes) 2007 film, “The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island.” That shorter production was written and stared Tim Key and Tom Basden, who are two of the three leading actors in the 2025 movie. Like them the third actor, Carey Mulligan, is a multi-talented performer in many media. She has been nominated and won various awards including for films, plays, and TV. Key and Basden have often worked together, including some comedy collaborations. And Basden wrote and performed (singing and playing the guitar) for the current “Ballad” film.

He plays Herb McGwyer, who had once been the guitar playing folk singer of half of a duo, the other half being Nell Mortimer (Carey Mulligan). The duo are invited by Charles Heath (Tim Key)—and given lots of money—to perform on the fictional Welsh Wallis Island. Heath became rich by winning the lottery twice. (This review contains some “spoilers,” so watch film first if you wish to remain unaware of plot developments.)

The only problem is that the singing duo had broken up about a decade earlier, and Herb was not informed that Nell, who was also his former lover, had also been invited. Also the audience, although it will be “less than a hundred” (as Heath indicated), will actually be a lot less, probably just one, Heath. (All film quotes are from the filmscript, which accurately reflects film dialogue provided by essay writers.)

The eccentric rich man is a widower, and the singing duo were his wife’s, Marie's, favorite. As he tells Nell, “She loved you,” and so he scheduled the duo’s concert on the fifth anniversary of her death.

As they practice together Herb’s love for Nell is rekindled, and he tells her, “I still love you, Nell.” One problem with that is that she is married--to Michael (Akemnji Ndifornyen), who has accompanied her to the island--and is pregnant. Another problem is that she replies, “You don't love me, okay? You love the past. And it was great—it was—but it's gone now. It's time to grow up.” She also says, “I shouldn't have come,” and soon after that leaves the island without performing.

Herb also decides he’s going to leave without doing the concert--and he’ll return the money he was paid in advance. But then something changes his mind. Although not mentioned in the filmscript, it seems to be some writing on a sky lanternlaunched earlier by Charles when he still thought Herb and Nell were going to perform, but now found by Herb while swimming off the coast of Wales. On it is written “Marie, I’m with McGwyer Mortimer. It’s perfect. Love you always. Charles.”

Up until this point, Herb had treated Charles as a nuisance he had to endure--and in fact, Charles, with his overly enthusiastic fan idolization, can be annoying. But apparently, Herb is moved by the words Charles had written. Does he now feel the pathos of the widowed Charles living alone for five years in his big house? Living there and still loving wife Marie, who along with him had adored the music of the McGwyer Mortimer duo?

Whatever the case, Herb now invites not only Charles to his folk concert but also Amanda, a local shopkeeper, the island’s only one, whom Herb is trying to nudge Charles to take an interest in.

Most of the film’s end is Herb playing songs, as he looks out over the sea, for Charles and Amanda. Before he sings one song, he says, “So, this is a song about lost love, and it's the last time I'm ever gonna play this. So I hope you're listening, Marie [Charles’s dead wife]:

Sometimes when you sleep
You look like
You're on the bottom
of the sea [.]
Sometimes when you smile
I can see
How you would've looked
as a child [.]
When your eyes are gold
Seems impossible to think
We could ever grow old [.]
When your eyes are bright
It seems impossible
to think
You're not creating
the light [.]
Let's walk in the sun [.]
Let our palms read
to each other
What's to come [.]
Let's walk in the rain
And let the wind
Carry us home again [.]
When the sky's
full of stars
It seems impossible
to think
That they don't know
who we are. . . .

While Herb is playing the camera occasionally pans to Charles’s face to indicate how much the song is moving him.

After Herb’s performance there is not much left in the film except Herb leaving the island in a small boat manned by an oarsman and then an important discovery by Charles. After he returns to his home, he finds there on a pool table all the money he had paid Herb and also something perhaps more important to him. Written on one of his old guitars—that Charles had somehow obtained—were the following words:

“Thank you Charles your biggest fan, Chris Pinner” (Herb’s real name before he adopted his stage name, Herb McGwyer). And one final touch: Amanda shows up at Charles’s house with a tennis racket and indicates that she would like to take Charles up on his suggestion that they play on his court.

Finally, what’s my reaction to “The Ballad of Wallis Island”? If I were awarding stars to it, I’d give it 4 out of 5: