Rating: 3.5/5
Laura takes her children, Aiden and Mia, to see her husband, Richard, who no longer lives with them. When they arrive, Richard sends the kids off so Laura and he can talk about finalizing the divorce. Richard is going to marry Grace, a woman he has been seeing. Distraught, Laura drives home and takes her own life.
Six months pass. Richard wants to take the kids to their lodge up north for Christmas. Richard would drop them off to spend time with Grace while he worked, then return to spend Christmas with them. Aiden is horrified, knowing that Grace is the subject of one of Richard’s books, and believes Laura’s suicide is Grace’s fault.
That night, Aiden and Mia sneak into Richard’s office to read what they can about Grace. Grace is the only surviving member of a mass suicide led by a Christian cult and the daughter of the cult leader. They also found a video Grace made of all the deceased cult members when she was 12 years old.
Still, the trip continues. The children are hostile towards Grace. But how will Grace handle all of this?
Like the directors’ previous film, Goodnight Mommy, the movie plays with our expectations around family dynamics and perspective on what is happening. This extends to Thimios Bakatakis’s cinematography, which uses genre conventions to suggest the type of movie you’re watching.
Casting Riley Keough and Alicia Silverstone was a brilliant choice. The two bear more than a passing resemblance, adding further to the general distress.
Riley Keough is excellent in this. Her character’s progression holds the entire movie together, and she nails it. From the children’s disdain to Richard’s infantilization, she is a character we only meet after everyone’s assumptions are in place. It’s up to the audience to find our way to who Grace is.
As someone with my fair share of religious trauma, I have an affinity for movies that deal with the subject with any degree of insight or care. This film, um, does not! But it got under my skin, and I appreciate that.