Una (film)

Una, pronounced "OONA", (originally titled Blackbird) is an American-British-Canadian drama film directed by Benedict Andrews based upon the play Blackbird by David Harrower, who also wrote the film's screenplay. It stars Rooney Mara, Ben Mendelsohn and Riz Ahmed. The film had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival on September 2, 2016. It is scheduled to be released in the United Kingdom on September 1, 2017, by Thunderbird Releasing and in the United States on October 6, 2017, by Swen.

Plot

A young woman Una (Mara) arrives unexpectedly at an older man's workplace looking for the truth behind the illicit sexual relationship they had once shared. The affair had been instigated by Ray (Mendelsohn) when she was a precocious 13-year-old and he was a next-door neighbor, the trusted friend of her father.

The facts came to light on the eve of their planned elopement. Convinced by a misunderstanding that Ray had abandoned her, she wandered the streets distraught and bewildered, to be returned home by police, seemingly betrayed. He served four years in jail for his crime, treated as the lowest form of humanity by fellow-inmates. Then changing his name to "Pete", he rose to management level in a large warehouse. She grew up lonely and confused, living with her mother and a series of one-night stands.

She finds where he works through a newspaper photograph and confronts him just as he is due to address the workers regarding retrenchments. Unnerved, he absents himself from the meeting, and hides from his fellow staff members, but she finds him. They quarrel: he insists that he had been genuinely in love, was not by nature a paedophile, and had not been "grooming" her. They find they are still sexually attracted, but he has to prepare for a dinner party being held that night, and leaves her for his home. She leaves with employee Scott (Ahmed), a young single man, and invites herself to his place, where she seduces him. She then persuades Scott to escort her to "Pete"'s luxury country residence, where the party is under way. "Pete" has no choice but to introduce Scott as a co-worker; Una ignores "Pete", however he is clearly troubled by fears of being unmasked. The wife and Una talk briefly; she drops a hint that their marriage is not entirely happy. Una wanders upstairs, where she finds a girl's bedroom; she enters and as she examines the personal belongings the girl confronts her and screams for her mother. The daughter, hers from an earlier marriage, is about 13 years old. "Pete" denies Una's unspoken accusation; she runs off into the dark, and it is clear that "Pete"'s cozy life is about to disintegrate.

Cast

Production

In November 2014, it was announced that Rooney Mara and Ben Mendelsohn had been cast as Una and Ray respectively, with Benedict Andrews directing from a screenplay by David Harrower who also wrote the stage play on which the film is based.^[2] With Jean Doumanian, Patrick Daly, and Maya Amsellem, producing under their Jean Doumanian Productions and West End Films banners respectively.^[3] And Celia Duval co-producing, with executive producers Jason Cloth, Aaron L. Gilbert under his Bron Studios banner, as well as, Sharon Harel, Kevin Loader, Eve Schoukroun.^[3] In May 2015, Film4 joined the film as a financier.^[4] In June 2015, Indira Varma, Tara Fitzgerald, and Riz Ahmed were all confirmed to star in the film.^[5] Jed Kurzel composed the film's score.^[6]

Filming

Production on the film began on June 13, 2015, in the United Kingdom.^{[7][8][9][10]} Filming took place in Camberley, Surrey, England, UK.

Release

In September 2015, Variety released the first image from the film.^[11] In November 2015, it was announced the film had been re-titled Una.^[12] In November 2015, Indiewire.com released another image from the film.^[13] The film had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival on September 2, 2016.^[14] It also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2016.^[15] and the BFI London Film Festival on October 9, 2016.^[16] Shortly after, Swen acquired U.S distribution rights to the film, partnering with Eammon Films handling the theatrical release.^[17] Thunderbird Releasing acquired U.K. distribution rights to the film.^[18] It is scheduled to be released in the United Kingdom on September 1, 2017.^[19] It is sceduled to be released on October 6, 2017, in the United States.^[17]

Critical reception

Una received positive reviews from film critics. It holds an 88% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 32 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10.^[20] On Metacritic, the film holds a rating of 68 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[21]

References

External links

• Una on IMDb