Model Agyness Deyn has taken the first step in becoming a fully fledged actress with the lead role in British indie flick Electricity. In the film, directed by Bryn Higgins, Deyn stars as Lily, a Lancashire girl suffering from epilepsy who, after her mother’s death, journeys to London in search of her missing brother.

Agyness DeynAgyness Deyn has gone from the catwalk to the big screen

The Evening Standard’s Charlotte O’Sullivan described Deyn’s performance as “blistering” and feels the film, “works primarily as a vehicle for Deyn.” Adding that “It makes you long to see her in Terence Davies’s Sunset Song”, which is currently in post-production.

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The Independent’s Geoffrey MacNab feels similarity, writing that Deyn “gives an impassioned, febrile performance as Lily.”

However while Deyn’s performance has been praised, the movie itself has left critics feeling less impressed. “Model Agyness Deyn has unwisely thrown herself into the deepest of deep ends with her film debut,” writes The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw who describes the drama as “unconvincingly conceived”.

More: Read our review of Electricity

Our own Rich Cline feels Deyn is “solid at the centre” while remarking that she “never looks like anything but a supermodel indulging in quirky charity-shop chic.” But as for Higgin’s direction, Cline writes he “merely plays with strong emotions while never quite getting round to discovering the point of it all,” while adding that “at least the film looks beautifully dreamlike, and carries a strongly visceral kick.”

Electricity is out in UK cinemas now.