Morgan Clement

This has been a film that's stuck with me all through 2022. It's a hard film to recommend, too, as it's entirely focused on the idea of spousal mental, verbal, and perhaps physical abuse. It's a slow burn of psychological horror as we watch a woman become re-traumatized all over again, and ride her roller-coaster of mental decline. The camera work is claustrophobic, frantic, and confusing, intentionally obfuscating what we, as the audience, are trying to understand. Hall's performance is passionate, and you feel her claustrophobia, her desire to keep the peace, and the desperation in doing everything she thinks she can to save those she loves. Roth's performance is one of cold manipulation, crashing back into Hall's life with stoicism and matter-of-factness of an abuser who knows his power. He's cold and calculating, and we watch as he masterfully manipulates his ex back into what he wants of her. This is not a happy film, nor is it one that is a particularly easy watch, but its grisly finale is one that rips the floor out from under you, as no one "wins". This film won't appease everyone, in fact, it's rotten tomatoes audience percentage is sitting at a 49%, but if it works for you, it REALLY works.