Una, the new film with Rooney Mara and Ben Mendelsohn, has been talked about for months now, and arrives on the shores of the New Zealand International Film Festival. Touchy subject matter to say the least, Una delves into the personal past of a troubled young woman grown up to confront the man who succumbed to relations with her when she was a teenage girl 15 years prior. Based on David Harrower’s award-winning play Blackbird, the film is directed by Benedict Andrews.
A sexual assault drama at first taste, Una portrays the long aftermath and the psychological damage this has clearly caused with a confrontational realism. A grounded, reactionary story, focuses on the former lovers, he has changed his name, re-married, and thought he had left it behind him; Una has not forgotten, and as well as feeling anger and pain, she wants to make sense of it all as an adult. An honest, gritty take on an extremely sensitive and problematic subject.
See the NZIFF website for scheduling.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beC3-U-sLF0?rel=0&w=640&h=360]