Two mothers (Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway, both of whom give stellar performances) are next-door neighbours who lead seemingly idyllic 1960s lives. They each have an eight-year-old son; the boys are best friends.
Then a tragic accident occurs, and one of the boys dies (not a spoiler, it's in the trailer). The rest of the film is about the way in which the women, and their husbands, and the surviving boy (newcomer Eamon Patrick O'Connell, who is excellent) deal with the aftermath of the tragedy. The answer is: Not well at all.
We see the expected stages of grief, but overlaid with finger-pointing and suspicion, leading to a descent into madness. But just who is going mad? The film very cleverly wrongfoots the viewer, first suggesting that this is a simple tragedy, then that there might be something sinister going on, then that there might not be...
The result is a wild ride, with an ending that will live long in the memory.
Then a tragic accident occurs, and one of the boys dies (not a spoiler, it's in the trailer). The rest of the film is about the way in which the women, and their husbands, and the surviving boy (newcomer Eamon Patrick O'Connell, who is excellent) deal with the aftermath of the tragedy. The answer is: Not well at all.
We see the expected stages of grief, but overlaid with finger-pointing and suspicion, leading to a descent into madness. But just who is going mad? The film very cleverly wrongfoots the viewer, first suggesting that this is a simple tragedy, then that there might be something sinister going on, then that there might not be...
The result is a wild ride, with an ending that will live long in the memory.