Madeline has become an integral part of a prestigious physical theater troupe. When the workshop's ambitious director pushes the teenager to weave her rich interior world and troubled history with her mother into their collective art, the lines between performance and reality begin to blur. The resulting battle between imagination and appropriation rips out of the rehearsal space and through all three women's lives.
Acting
Helena Howard's debut is volcanic—she's 19 and terrifying
Direction
Decker's camera crawls inside Madeline's dissociation
Editing
Reality fractures mid-scene; you feel the seams tear
Director
Josephine Decker
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Helena Howard was discovered at a teen arts festival; Decker built the entire film around her improvisations. The script was a living document.
The film sparked fierce debates about 'trauma porn' in indie cinema—Decker herself called it 'the movie I shouldn't have made,' which only deepens the meta-wound.
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