Matthew Turner | On 04, Aug 2023

Director: Tina Satter
Cast: Sydney Sweeney, Josh Hamilton, Marchánt Davis
Certificate: 12

Writer-director Tina Satter adapts her own play for this dynamite debut feature, culled entirely from the real-life transcripts of the FBI’s initial interviews with whistleblower Reality Winner. Cleverly directed and featuring a star-making performance from Sydney Sweeney, it’s one of the best films of 2022.

After a caption lays out the transcript issue, the film opens on Reality (Sweeney) as she returns home from her job as a translator for an NSA contractor to find a couple of men waiting for her in her suburban backyard. The men introduce themselves as FBI Agents Garrick (Josh Hamilton) and Taylor (Marchánt Davis) and then proceed to ask Reality a series of questions, without immediately revealing their objective.

After a short while, other FBI agents arrive and begin searching Reality’s house, while Garrick and Taylor ask her to secure both her rescue dog and her pet cat. Eventually, the conversation moves indoors and the tension increases as it gradually becomes clear to Reality just how much trouble she might be in.

Satter’s direction is assured throughout, immediately creating both an uneasy atmosphere and a grip that inexorably tightens as the film progresses. She also finds visually innovative ways to indicate parts of the transcript that have been redacted, an element that’s original to the film rather than being part of her original play.

Sweeney, hitherto best known for her roles in TV’s The White Lotus and Euphoria, delivers an utterly mesmerising performance that is certain to result in a significant career boost. At times she is nothing short of extraordinary, ensuring that you pay full attention to every tiny facial flicker or eye movement as she navigates the increasingly specific questions – and both the audience and the FBI agents try to work out whether she knows more than she’s letting on.

Satter, aided by Paul Yee’s skilful cinematography, emphasises the minute details of Sweeney’s performance by pushing the camera in tighter and tighter on her face, the tension increasing at every turn. The effect is intensely claustrophobic, to the point where you’re suddenly aware that you’ve been holding your breath.

It’s fair to say that the film works better if you’re largely unaware of the details of Reality’s case, because the impact is that much greater. Either way, it stands as a compelling and compassionate portrait of Winner herself, while forcing us to ask ourselves difficult questions about what we might have done in her situation.

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