Olivia Colman is almost overqualified playing the middle-aged daughter who never left the nest, constantly expressing two conflicting emotions at the same time. She's so good at showing us her character's feelings, by the time she begins speaking her mind in the last five minutes, it feels contrived and pat.
Jessie Buckley is great as the earthy Irish single mom, who refuses to meet anyone's expectations. We eventually realize that she's been cornered by society long before she was put on trial.
I was utterly charmed by newcomer Anjana Vasan as the lady police officer who is determined to crack the case and bring justice despite the best efforts of her prideful police chief and an eager but dim constable. This is another in an increasing number of color-blind cast films with non-white actors (Vasan was born to Indian parents and raised in Singapore) when every role would be played by a white actor in past decades.
Is the movie supposed to be about shaking off the chains of Victorian oppression? Or about a woman desperate for any kind of attention...or both? It's hard to say what the movie is driving towards, or if the writer and director just wanted to have it both ways. Great Barrington Triplex