Return to Sender

Rosamund Pike picked up an Oscar nomination for her brilliantly unhinged turn in ‘Gone Girl’, and she returns to familiar territory in this dark, satisfying indie. Pike is Miranda, an uppity-yet-likeable nurse who’s brutally raped in her home. Struggling with post-traumatic stress, she resolves to visit her attacker in prison, and, through a series of jarring flirting-through-the-perspex meetings, they appear to grow close.

It’s an uncomfortable relationship to witness, but, despite appearing sincere, we’re left questioning Miranda’s true intentions. Is she as all-forgiving as she appears to be? Or is this a carefully calculated set-up for an almighty vengeful finale? Put it this way, there’s no way an actress of Pike’s intelligence would have signed on for what looks like, until the last ten minutes, a very poorly judged forgive-and-forget morality tale. And besides, the clue’s in the title.

Props to Pike, then, for making an inevitable twist feel like a shock conclusion. Were it not for her trademark icy, enigmatic delivery, this could easily have been a shoddily transparent slice of revenge schlock, rather than a smart, subtly pitched thriller with a fist-pumping feminist finale.