NEW YORK (OSV News) – "Hope," wrote the 19th-century New England poet Emily Dickinson, "is the thing with feathers." In the case of the surreal fable "Tuesday" (A24), however, it's Death who sports the plumage.

Personified as an anthropomorphized bird that can grow or shrink at will, the Grim Reaper (voice of Arinzé Kene) arrives in London to claim the terminally ill teen (Lola Petticrew) from whose name the film takes its title. Far from being terrified, she calmly welcomes her visitor and the two strike up an eccentric sort of friendship.

Tuesday's American mom Zora (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), by contrast, displays a very different attitude toward the newcomer. Emotionally unable to face the prospect of Tuesday's imminent demise, Zora tries desperately to thwart the colorful but generally morose avian by whatever means necessary.

Performances are strong under Croatia-born, U.K.-based Daina O. Pusic's direction. But the potential impact of this meditation on mortality and grief, which she also penned, is sabotaged for viewers of faith by the stand her script ultimately takes on issues of divinity and the afterlife. These involve an explicit contradiction of revealed truths.

The film contains a quasi-atheistic and materialist worldview, mature references, a couple of profanities, several milder oaths, about a dozen rough terms and occasional crude and crass talk. The OSV News classification is O -- morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association rating is R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. - - -CAPSULE REVIEW"Tuesday" (A24)Surreal fable in which Death (voice of Arinzé Kene), personified as an anthropomorphized bird, arrives to claim a terminally ill teen (Lola Petticrew), and the two strike up an eccentric sort of friendship. But the girl's mother (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), emotionally unable to face the prospect of her imminent demise, tries desperately to thwart the newcomer. While performances are strong under Daina O. Pusic's direction, the impact of this meditation on mortality and grief, which she also penned, is sabotaged for viewers of faith by the stand her script ultimately takes on issues of divinity and the afterlife. A quasi-atheistic and materialist worldview, mature references, a couple of profanities, several milder oaths, about a dozen rough terms, occasional crude and crass talk. The OSV News classification is O -- morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association rating is R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.- - -CLASSIFICATION"Tuesday" (A24) – OSV News classification, O -- morally offensive. Motion Picture Association rating, R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.- - - John Mulderig is media reviewer for OSV News. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @JohnMulderig1.