DIRECTOR’S NOTES

Someone’s Daughter is the kind of movie I love to watch. Beginning with a startling premise, followed by a myriad of surprise twists, this film features a complex female character, stunning visuals, witty dialogues and hot button issues to talk about once you leave the cinema. 

Men taking revenge for the injustices of the world is a trope as old as the movies themselves. Everyone from Clint Eastwood to Liam Neeson has dabbled in the genre. Women resorting to revenge is a much more rare occurrence, though over the years there have been a few exceptions, most notably films such as Emerald Fennel's Promising Young Woman, Coralie Fargeat's Revenge and Zoë Kravitz's Blink Twice. 

At first, Someone’s Daughter appears to be a straight up revenge film: A father wanting to right the wrong that has been done to his daughter. But this story is told from the female point of view, so the focus here is on the woman. Sam. The victim, who ultimately does take matters in her own hands. We enter this world through her eyes, experience the hardships of being kidnapped with her, clue into what is happening as she does. 

As the story unfolds, we learn that there is a lot more to Sam than victimhood. She is not your stereotypical ‘damsel-in-distress’, a helpless woman waiting for her (most often) male saviour to arrive. Before this ordeal, Sam established herself as a successful defense lawyer, specializing in defending sexual predators. Her task, as she is fond to point out, is to advocate for her clients, not to judge their actions. In the court of law, she asserts, truth does not matter. What matters is who tells the most compelling story. The fact that she defends men accused of hurting women does not enter into her equation. 

ll that changes when her survival is tied to an accused rapist. Initially taken in By Paul’s charismatic ways – something psychopaths are quite adept at – Sam eventually comes to question not only her belief in the justice system but also how her actions contributed to the death of a young woman, and the abuse of others. 

What Sam has to finally, and painfully accept, is that our judicial system does not necessarily bring justice to those who have been hurt. That by blindly believing in the system, injustice rather than justice might be served. Upon realizing her mistake, Sam becomes the hero of her own story by turning the tables and taking matters into her own hand. However, in a last, final, twist, Sam realizes that ultimately, she cannot escape the consequences of her actions. The burden of having caused suffering to others will be with her for the rest of her life. 

I have been fascinated by several high-profile cases where men accused of sexual assault have been successfully defended by female lawyers despite overwhelming evidence that they did, in fact, commit the crimes. Our heroine is inspired by these lawyers. Like them, Sam has fought hard to succeed in a man’s profession. She is smart, eloquent, driven – but when her own survival is tied to a former client, things become more shaded. Personal. Prima Facie, a recent West End hit starring Jodie Comer, deals with similar themes, proving just how timely this subject matter is. 

Despite the trappings of a survival film, Someone’s Daughter is at its heart a character study of a woman who has to face up to the choices she has made in the past. Questions I keep looping back to are: What motivates someone like Sam to defend men accused of abusing women? Can there be justice in a system that ultimately cares less about the truth but rather about who makes the better argument? And perhaps most importantly: How would a person’s feelings regarding the law, and justice, change if her own survival depended on it? 

At the end of the film, it is up to the audience to judge our heroine. To sympathize with Sam or not. To hold her responsible for what happened, or to blame the system. Whatever conclusion the viewer arrives at, what is of interest to me is raising uncomfortable questions about our justice system, about the choices we make, and ultimately about what taking personal responsibility might entail. 

After all, Sam, too, is someone’s daughter. She could be all of us. She is all of us.