While Sandra opens up to a documentary film crew, flashbacks show her teenage son, Stephen, mysteriously kidnapping a toddler, and holding him captive. Eventually, the stories intersect to explain the abduction and the family's three-generation legacy of abuse in this mesmerizing psychological drama.
Acting
Aisling O'Sullivan's fragmented documentary performance is masterclass-level uncomfortable.
Writing
The slow collision of timelines pays off devastatingly.
Direction
Carmel Winters trusts you to connect the horror yourself.
Director
Carmel Winters
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during Ireland's reckoning with institutional child abuse, the film channels national guilt through one family's sealed-off horror. Winters specifically wanted the documentary format to mirror how Irish society was finally 'recording' its own secrets.
The toddler was played by twins, and Winters kept Aisling O'Sullivan separated from Stephen Moran until their first scene together to manufacture authentic estrangement.
IE
