The Green Knight (onscreen as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Anonymous) is a 2021 American fantasy film directed by David Lowery. The film stars Dev Patel as Gawain, a nephew of King Arthur, who sets out on a journey to test his courage and face the Green Knight. Based on the 14th-century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the film also stars Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton, Sarita Choudhury, Sean Harris, and Ralph Ineson.
Synopsis[]
Gawain is awakened Christmas morning in a brothel by his lover, the commoner Essel. He attends a feast at the Round Table with his uncle King Arthur, who invites Gawain to his side. In a tower, his mother Morgan le Fay performs a magic ritual. The mysterious Green Knight barges into Arthur's court on horseback and challenges the court: any knight who is able to land a blow on him will win his green axe. However, he must travel to the Green Chapel next Christmas and receive an equal blow in return. Gawain takes up the challenge. Instead of fighting, the Green Knight kneels and lowers his head and Gawain decapitates him. The Green Knight rises and lifts his severed head, reminds Gawain of the bargain, and rides off from the castle, laughing.
A year later, Gawain departs on horse for the Green Chapel, taking the green axe and a green girdle made by his mother, who claims that no harm will come to him so long as he wears it. During his journey, Gawain is ambushed and loses the axe, girdle, and horse. At night, he is awakened by the ghost of a young woman named Winifred who asks Gawain to retrieve her head from a nearby spring. When he returns with her skull, he sees her skeleton in the bed. The next morning, the axe has been returned to him.
Eventually, Gawain reaches the castle of a Lord who informs him that the Green Chapel is nearby. The castle is also occupied by a blindfolded old woman and the Lord's wife, (played by the same actress as Gawain's lover) who makes seductive overtures towards Gawain. The Lord proposes they exchange what he obtains while hunting with whatever Gawain finds at the castle. The next morning, the Lady presents Gawain with the green girdle, which she claims to have made herself. Gawain relents to her advances and flees the castle, but encounters the Lord in the forest, who reminds him of their game. The Lord kisses Gawain in turn for the Lady's actions, but Gawain does not give him the girdle.
Gawain goes to the Green Chapel. Finishing the game, the Green Knight swings the axe, but stops short twice as Gawain flinches. Before the third swing, Gawain flees back to Camelot. He is knighted and becomes king when his uncle dies. Essel bears his son, but Gawain abandons her, marrying a noblewoman instead. As an adult, his son dies in battle and, after many years, Gawain becomes a reviled king. With his castle under siege and his family abandoning him, Gawain pulls the green girdle from inside his abdomen. His now-decapitated head falls off.
Gawain wakes from this vision, still kneeling on the ground in the Green Chapel. Gawain removes the girdle and accepts the blow. The Green Knight praises Gawain for his bravery. He drags his finger across Gawain's throat and says, "Now, off with your head."
Cast[]
- Dev Patel as Gawain
- Alicia Vikander as Essel and the Lady
- Joel Edgerton as the Lord
- Sarita Choudhury as Mother
- Sean Harris as the King
- Ralph Ineson as the Green Knight
- Ralph Ineson had previous been a henchman in First Knight.