Narvel Roth is a meticulous horticulturist who is devoted to tending the grounds of a beautiful estate and pandering to his employer, the wealthy dowager Mrs. Haverhill. When she demands that he take on her wayward and troubled niece, it unlocks dark secrets from a buried violent past.
Acting
Edgerton's terrifying stillness, Weaver's delicious cruelty.
Direction
Schrader's signature austere framing, spiritual without preaching.
Writing
Every garden metaphor lands with thorns attached.
Director
Paul Schrader
Joel Edgerton
Narvel Roth
Sigourney Weaver
Norma Haverhill
Quintessa Swindell
Maya Core
Esai Morales
Oscar Neruda
Eduardo Losan
Xavier
Victoria Hill
Isobel Phelps
Amy Le
Janine
Erika Ashley
Maggie
Timothy McKinney
Ronnie
Jared Bankens
RG
Matt Mercurio
Sissy
Christian Vaughn
John
Emily Russell
Waitress
Jef Figallo
US Marshall #2
Sean Richmond
US Marshall #1
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Schrader wrote this during lockdown, channeling his own obsessive gardening into a meditation on American sin. It's basically 'First Reformed' with hostas.
The film deliberately mirrors 'Taxi Driver' in reverse — a violent man trying to reintegrate rather than descend. Schrader's been rewriting that story his whole career.
US
