Accused

Aroview: Unnerving Danish chamber-piece concerns the accusation by a 14-year-old girl that her father has sexually abused her - a claim of ambiguous veracity considering the girl's history of lying and manipulation, although doubts emerge about the father's story too.

Unfurling the brittle dynamics of middle-class families to dramatic effect, this never lets the audience off the hook as the father is accused, shamed, jailed and then put on trial. It is in the courtroom that dir. Thuesen's critique of 'expert' witnesses and social welfarism deepens considerably and leaves one with much to ponder. Made by a former protege of Lars Von Trier, this shares something of the same bleakness of tone, but exercised with a colder, more restrained rigour.

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