Dir. Sarah Polley
2022 | 104 mins | USA
Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Frances McDormand, Ben Whishaw

SHOWING TIMES:

• Fri 03 Mar: 5.30pm
• Sat 04 Mar: 3pm
• Sun 05 Mar: 6pm
• Mon 06 Mar: 2pm
• Mon 06 Mar: 5pm *
• Tue 07 Mar: 2pm
• Tue 07 Mar: 5.30pm
• Wed 08 Mar: 5.30pm
• Thu 09 Mar: 2pm
• Thu 09 Mar: 5.30pm

All screenings have optional Audio Description available. Films marked * will play with Hard of Hearing captions.

Sarah Polley (Stories We Tell) is joined by a stellar cast for this stylish and ambitiously conceived adaptation of Miriam Toews’ bestseller about abuse and solidarity. Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture at this year’s Oscars.

In a remote Mennonite community, women have been waking from sleep bruised and battered, some are pregnant. Religious leaders argue it’s God’s punishment for their sins. But when one wakes to find an attacker in her room, the horrible truth comes out. In a sunlit barn, the women debate: will they stay, as is expected, and forgive their attackers? Fury, fear, resignation, obedience, hope – each woman, though dressed alike in the unadorned style of the community, expresses a different view.

Polley’s direction is perfectly calibrated and precise, with the flow of speech choreographed, and delivered like a dance by her gifted cast (Frances McDormand, Jessie Buckley, Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, to name a few). Despite their lack of formal education, the women are sharply articulate; big ideas, explored in intimate spaces. And while their experience is culturally specific, the film speaks universally.

TRIPLE F-RATED:

Directed by a woman, written by a woman and starring a significant woman.

F-Rating is a new rating for films directed by women, written by women and/or with significant female characters on screen, in their own right. Find out more here >>

VENUE: EXETER PHOENIX, STUDIO 74

*Subject to a £1.50 ticketing system charge. We don’t charge this to make a profit. Find out more >>