Unhappily married Miriam travels with her husband Caleb to her younger sister Greta, who lives in the countryside with her husband Dylan. After a spat with her sister, Miriam is drawn to Dylan for support. When that veers into something else, Miriam feels betrayed by the ones she trusted most. Psychological horror asks real questions about consent, anger and trauma.
This is as close to an actual psychological visualisation of the nature of sexual trauma as you’re gonna get, and it’s as scattered, guilt-ridden and horrible as you’d expect. Nothing feels good about Miriam’s payback, and it never will. The Canadian directors Dusty Mancinelli and Madeleine Sims-Fewer – who also stars – tell the story in a fractured narrative, intercutting the sexual assault with Miriam subsequently taking matters into her own hands. The film offers a great metaphor for the extent of trauma triggered by events that are seemingly ‘not that bad’ and the gaslighting afterwards. Instead of providing a catharsis, it asks very real and complicated questions about consent, anger and trauma.
Directors: Dusty Mancinelli, Madeleine Sims-Fowler
Canada 2020
107m
With: Madeleine Sims-Fowler, Anna Maguire, Jesse LaVercombe, Obi Abili
