In her third fictional feature film as a director, Canadian actress Sarah Polley – ally of Isabel Coixet in “My life without me” y “The secret Life of the words”– launches a suggestive temporal game to talk about an atavistic present. From the novel by Miriam Toews –a story located in a Mennonite sect, a community in which the author spent her childhood–, the action of the film takes place in a closed society in which women are subjected and nullified by religious beliefs controlled by men, in addition to being victims of violations that they are obliged to forgive. Due to the costumes and sets and the absence of technological elements, we might think that everything takes place more than a century ago, but it is made very clear to us: this is happening in 2010.
The film, which, due to its premise, could be an adaptation of a play and not a novel, allows us to delve into the meetings of several women in the community after one of these sexual attacks, whose perpetrators have been arrested for waiting for forgiveness. Polley excels as a director by combining all the elements to give them rhythm and avoid the monotony of a single setting and avoiding the risks of continuous dialogue: a skilful editing, a cold and deadly photography in keeping with the story and a splendid music that gives a bit of quiet. To this must be added the excellent performances of a cast that spans all ages –due to the strength of their characters, those of Claire Foy y Jessie Buckleybut we must not forget the serenity of a model Rooney Mara or the calm of the veteran Judith Ivey– and a script that shines for its ability, based on the multiplicity of voices, to avoid simplifications and expose the subject in all its complexity. A script that looks at the forest and not at the trees and that from that fiction dated in an anachronistic 21st century questions us about the mental framework of our present (and past).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kytEwNywKWY
