Una (15, 92 mins)
Director: Benedict Andrews
Stars: Rooney Mara, Ben Mendelsohn, Riz Ahmed
The play, a two-hander performed most recently by Jeff Daniels and Michelle Williams in New York, is about a woman called Una (Rooney Mara), who tracks down her much older former neighbour Ray (Ben Mendelsohn) who was jailed for having sex with her when she just 13.
Andrews opens it up for Una, adding minor characters and heightening the tension by setting the confrontation in a warehouse where manager Ray is preparing for crunch redundancy talks with his workforce.
His most effective intervention is to give some context to the standoff with uncomfortable flashbacks to their torrid, three-month affair. He also makes good use of the close-up.
Mara’s English accent can be distracting, but we can feel a maelstrom of emotions raging inside this troubled young woman.
She says she has hated her life ever since but still thinks she is in love with her abuser. It’s a difficult watch but Mara’s intense performance makes it almost impossible to look away.