Sundance Film Festival: Rebecca Hall makes for riveting center in "Resurrection"

Resurrection (2022)

The consummate performer that she is, Rebecca Hall really does have the power to draw one into any story, even something as deeply strange as the one being told in “Resurrection.” Knowing as little as possible about writer-director Andrew Semans’ harrowing psychological drama is the way to go, and even if you think you have it all figured out, think again. 

Hall plays Margaret, a successful executive for a biotech company and a single mother to 17-year-old daughter Abbie (Grace Kaufman). She’s always in complete control of her life and knows how to give tough relationship advice to an intern, until spotting a man from her own past at a work conference makes her spiral. It’s David (Tim Roth), Margaret’s manipulative and abusive lover whom she left 22 years ago. As she grows more bristly and paranoid, Margaret will do anything to protect her and her daughter, even if Abbie thinks her mother is on the verge of a psychotic break. 

Director Semans keeps one unsure and off-balance, making us question if anything Margaret experiences is real or not, while getting another brilliant unraveling out of Rebecca Hall (similar to her work in last year’s horror film “The Night House”). When we first meet Margaret, she is so composed as if nothing could crack it, but Tim Roth’s presence takes care of that. As chillingly played by Roth, David has such a persuasive hold on Margaret in ways that some viewers may find too hard to swallow. To bring context to Margaret and David’s old relationship, Hall masterfully turns an exposition dump into a monologue that’s nothing short of riveting. 

When a film like “Resurrection” takes big narrative risks—and oh, it does—grounded, believable performances go a long way. It does end up in a muddled gray area between the literal and the metaphorical, but “Resurrection” is effectively unpleasant and involving with a gutsy, presumably divisive finale that’ll be hard to shake. It’ll have you picking your jaw up off the floor and even scratching your head a little.

Grade: B

IFC Films is releasing "Resurrection" (104 min.) in theaters on July 29, 2022.