RESURRECTION (2022)

Studio:     IFC Films/Shudder
Director:    Andrew Semans
Writer:     Andrew Semans
Producer:  Tim Headington, Lia Buman, Tory Lenosky, Alex Scharfman, Drew Houpt, Lars Knudsen
Stars:     Rebecca Hall, Grace Kaufman, Michael Esper, Tim Roth

Review Score:

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Summary:

A single mother spirals into mania as she comes to believe an abusive ex has resurfaced to inflict more psychological trauma.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Margaret Ballion maintains a noncommittal sexual relationship with her co-worker Peter while raising her daughter Abbie, who is two weeks away from her eighteenth birthday. Although she remains haunted by extreme psychological and physical trauma inflicted by her older ex-boyfriend David Moore 22 years ago, Margaret also offers proactive advice about escaping an abusive relationship to young office intern Gwyn.

Margaret believes she sees David first at a work conference and then while out shopping with Abbie. Additionally alarmed by unsettling experiences such as a disturbing dream about a burning baby and Abbie inexplicably finding a tooth in her wallet, Margaret becomes increasingly overprotective of Abbie’s safety without telling her daughter why.

Margaret confronts David when she spots him for a third time on a park bench. David plays a mind game to confuse Margaret by initially pretending to not know who she is, but then he taunts her by saying their son Ben is still in his belly.

Margaret tells a police officer about David stalking her. With no evidence of an actual crime, the officer tells Margaret there is nothing he can do.

As her mind spirals from fear and paranoia, Margaret spontaneously reveals her history with David to Gwyn. Margaret explains that when she was an 18-year-old aspiring artist, she accompanied her parents on a work-related trip where they met David, an older biologist. David won over Margaret’s parents so they were disarmed when Margaret seemingly fell in love and decided to move in with him. However, David turned Margaret subservient by forcing her to do humiliating and often painful acts called “kindnesses” that he claimed were intended to make her stronger. Emotionally broken and trapped in the sadistic relationship, Margaret gave birth to a boy named Ben who became her focal point for love. But after leaving Ben alone with David for the first time, she returned home to find two baby fingers on the countertop while David claimed he ate the boy to trap him in his stomach. Margaret finally fled to America, but still blames herself for allowing Ben’s death to happen. Gwyn becomes confused about why Margaret confided in her.

Margaret confronts David at a diner after staking out his hotel. Margaret asks why David tracked her down. David claims Ben is still inside him screaming for his mother. When she asks about David leaving her and Abbie alone, David tells Margaret she must first perform a “kindness” that requires walking to work barefoot. Margaret threatens to kill David. David counters that if she kills him, she will also kill Ben. David exits after leaving Margaret his hotel room key.

Margaret ultimately walks to work barefoot several times. As Margaret’s behavior grows more worrisome, Abbie tells her mother she needs psychiatric help. Margaret warns Abbie to be wary of David, but claims he is merely a disgruntled employee.

Margaret enters David’s hotel room while he is away. Margaret finds a photo of her, a drawing she made in her artist days, and a baby blanket that belonged to Ben. As Margaret tearfully cradles the blanket, the hotel manager screams at her to leave.

Margaret wakes up lactating the next morning. She also continues stalking David while practicing handling her pistol.

With Margaret having missed work for a week and her daughter concerned about her smothering, Abbie and Peter try to stage an intervention to tell Margaret she needs mental help. Margaret screams at Peter to leave and further alienates Abbie.

Margaret interrupts David’s nighttime routine by confronting him at gunpoint in a secluded location. David again warns that if Margaret kills him, she will also kill Ben. David wrestles the gun away from Margaret. He then taunts that Ben is alive inside him and crying. Margaret insists Ben is dead. David forces Margaret to listen to his stomach while claiming Ben says he doesn’t understand why Margaret abandoned him. David then tells Margaret she needs to perform another “kindness” that requires holding a demanding pose in the park for several hours each night. Margaret ultimately does as instructed.

Margaret futilely chases after Abbie when she leaves home following her eighteenth birthday. Peter confronts Margaret on the street to profess his love as well as his concern for her wellbeing. Margaret angrily rejects Peter dismissively.

Margaret returns to work. David visits Margaret in her office to taunt that he is the only person who knows who she really is and what she is capable of. David arranges a meeting at another hotel that night where he claims Margaret can be with her son.

After recording an apologetic video explaining everything to Abbie in case she doesn’t come back, Margaret meets David at the new hotel. David gives her the drawing he saved from when she was still an artist. Margaret tearfully apologizes to Ben after touching David’s stomach. David comforts Margaret during her emotional breakdown.

Margaret becomes convinced that Ben is in fact alive inside of David, but he is suffering. Margaret produces a knife she uses to slice David’s ear. David recovers the knife and reminds Margaret that without him, there is no Ben. Margaret takes out a second knife and attacks David again. Margaret gets stabbed in the subsequent struggle, but manages to slice David’s Achilles tendon. She then ties up David with a telephone cord and cuts open his stomach. Amidst David’s organs, Margaret pulls out a breathing baby boy whom she begins cradling.

Some time later, Abbie returns home to collect her belongings. Abbie checks on Margaret, who gives Ben to Abbie to hold. Abbie tells her mother she isn’t scared anymore because Margaret made everything okay. Margaret’s gaze gradually glazes over, indicating she imagined the apparent conclusion.

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Review:

Multiple movies have gone by the title “Resurrection.” You’ve landed in the right place if you’re looking for the 2022 psychological thriller starring Rebecca Hall and Tim Roth. Perhaps you’ve heard how the film features what some would popularly call a “WTF?” ending, and curiosity compels you to know more. What you may not have heard, but should know depending on how long your patience allows suspense to slow roast, is that “Resurrection” grinds through mundane moments of little narrative reward before getting to the “good” stuff. When it does get to that good stuff, however, several scenes border on being great.

“Resurrection” opens with an introduction to Margaret (Rebecca Hall), an above-average single mother raising a daughter, Abbie, who is two weeks away from turning eighteen. Margaret works in an office at a biotech firm, mentoring young interns and presenting Powerpoint decks to other execs dressed in smart business wear. We later learn that a past trauma ruined her capacity to maintain trustworthy romances. Abbie came about from hooking up with random barflies Margaret hoped could give her a baby. Now she simply satisfies physical needs by casually hooking up with a married coworker whenever the whim strikes her.

After additional pieces of Margaret’s personality are presented, we retroactively receive more valuable insight into her character’s construction than what this dull day-in-the-life drama initially implies. But there are also redundancies included that drag down the pace, resulting in a distinct “get on with it” sense during early events. Watching Margaret at work, walking to the office, jogging, discussing cereal’s nutritional value with her daughter, jogging again, and attending a conference aren’t exactly setups that consistently energize engagement.

“Resurrection” shifts into its next gear when David (Tim Roth) enters the equation. Since the story doesn’t clue the audience in to David’s full history or macabre motivations until mid-movie, it would spoil “Resurrection’s” juiciest secret to reveal too much too soon. Suffice to say, David inflicted the trauma that shattered Margaret when she was only 18. Back then, he was a mature older man who wooed and then wormed his way into her life, ultimately employing psychological manipulation and torturous affectations to turn Margaret into a subservient partner controlled by his wicked will.

Margaret hasn’t seen David since she escaped to America 22 years ago. Now it seems he finally found her, as David unexpectedly resurfaces all over the city, apparently intent on playing his cruelest mind game yet. Panicking over her daughter’s safety, yet still susceptible to David’s deviousness, Margaret becomes caught in a new storm of fear and paranoia while everyone around her questions why she appears to be unraveling, and why she refuses to divulge the danger.

Regular readers who’ve seen me cover such concepts before know I have a pet peeve when it comes to “Is it real or is it all in his/her head?” plotlines. You probably have it too. Chiefly, by nature of falling into the genre of horror, thriller, or suspense, the protagonist almost always turns out to be telling the truth about a threat no one else notices, rendering the runaround of naysayers and disbelievers a big waste of time.

“Resurrection” has some of those standard scenes. There’s a cop who tells Margaret he can’t do anything about David’s supposed stalking unless there’s evidence of an actual crime. Margaret’s workplace fling and deeply doubting daughter both implore Margaret to seek psychiatric help too.

But writer/director Andrew Semans doesn’t make the movie about those moments. Yes, “Resurrection” is a gripping examination of a sociopath’s psychological stranglehold on a woman who possesses a dormant power to assert her agency, although extreme emotional sabotage prevents her from doing so. But no, it’s not about flogging the flattened horse of how no one listens to her or repeatedly ignores pleas for help. Other than the cop, and using a woman at work to do an exposition dump, Margaret never truly tries to tell anyone what she believes is going on. Semans uses those scenes to answer common questions like, why wouldn’t she go to the police, to show that basic bases are covered. Then “Resurrection” quickly gets back to ratcheting tension where it matters most: in the deadly dynamic developing between Margaret and David, or more accurately, between Hall and Roth.

At a minimum, “Resurrection” can be called bizarre. Those who are more shocked by the turns taken might raise that all the way up to “bonkers.” But it’s Hall and Roth who use every ounce of their magnetic talent to achieve the improbable feat of making the movie’s madness believable.

Margaret marks another perfect fit for Rebecca Hall, who seems incapable of choosing bad roles anyway. Hall automatically comes equipped with a seasoned stature and intangible air of cautious wisdom so that what her daughter, or any objective observer, views as unhinged behavior, reads as warranted wariness to an audience inherently won over by Hall’s confident charisma. She makes Margaret too intuitive, too good at reading situations to be anything less than a savvy person unfairly weakened by an unimaginable situation.

Perhaps pigeonholed for his effortless ability to convey conniving contempt with steely intensity some might deem sinisterly seductive, Tim Roth gets a great role too. There are very few secondary players in “Resurrection,” although all of them are equally well cast, from the desperate concern of Grace Kaufman as Margaret’s smart, yet not annoyingly snarky teen daughter, to Angela Wong Carbone as a sympathetic intern fighting to figure out her own abusive relationship. Various emotions explode everywhere as everyone puts on an acting clinic that powers “Resurrection” almost purely through performances.

“Resurrection” eventually becomes a riveting 89-minute thriller hindered by the unattractive bloat of a 104-minute runtime. Using the editing room as a gym to burn off the first act’s fat would elevate the film’s status from “your mileage may vary” to “you may not want to miss this.” As is often the case when Rebecca Hall and Tim Roth are involved though, quality characterizations keep “Resurrection” captivating. The first half hour or so has its work cut out in winning over an impatient attention span. But provided you can push past any exhaustion, you’ll feel a rush of exhilaration when you hit the dizzying sprint toward the finish line.

Review Score: 70

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