Film Review - Disclosure
Images courtesy of Bonsai Films.
Disclosure is a confronting tale about two close couples whose friendships implode through the allegation that one of their children was sexually abused by the other.
All set in one location, Joel and Bek occasionally baby-sit the 4-year-old daughter of Emily and Danny. However, when a shocking incident occurs between the children that no-one saw happen, the couple come together to hash out the allegation.
Initially, the couples retain some semblance of civility, but it soon spirals out of control as personal and professional considerations mire discussions: Joel is a politician seeking re-election, while Danny is a journalist who is also co-authoring a book with Joel. Meanwhile, Emily is a documentary filmmaker whose long absences at home come under scrutiny, while Bek’s past influences her attitude toward events. The truth itself is hidden among the differing perspectives which is artfully explored by the film’s director in its opening act.
From the outset, ordinary lives of young children are afforded seismic resonance as slow motion of kids on playgrounds and crossing roads dramatically inverts the audience’s perception of what children are capable of. In the following scene, ominous dread fills the mood as a busied parent is momentarily distracted from baby-sitting. As she takes phone calls and writes down notes, she paces in and out of frame as the camera slowly backs away from the kitchen and into the shadows of the house’s corridor, as if frightened of what is about to unfold. After deafening screams from an unidentified child, she lazily opens the bedroom door and warns her 9-year-old son to “leave the little ones alone”, but returns to her business as quickly as she left it. Even further, as she opens the door to speak to her son, a silhouette of the boy emerges from the light cast across the hallway. This immediately signals the nefarious intent of the boy that will cataclysmically change the lives of those involved. These opening few minutes alone perfectly illuminate broad societal issues illustrated through deft visual touches that permeate for the entire film.
The premise functions entirely on the shifting dynamics of the four characters. Their individual power status is represented through the staging and shots of their initial conversation with each other. For example, Danny and Emily are swimming in their pool naked before Joel and Bek arrive unannounced through the back porch. The pool is installed on a lower level to the house, thereby placing Joel and Bek above their counterparts through low-angle shots that infer they are in the dominant and controlling position. Not only this, the embarrassed Danny and Emily are shot in high-angle as they scuttle to put clothes on; caught off-guard and vulnerable to the legal onslaught about to ensue. Even further, director Michael Bentham offers an immediate visual juxtaposition as the wives and husbands sit next to each other. Bek and Joel are wearing formal cocktail attire as they are about to attend a fundraiser, while Emily and Danny are scantily clad and wet.
The film itself is slightly hindered by the constraints of a modest budget, as some production elements appear unpolished: the lighting of exterior scenes is vulnerable to weather as the background is often over-exposed, with the actors’ faces only clearly visible when shaded, and moments of overlapping sound with props such as plates can very briefly make dialogue hard to discern. Fortunately, these are very nit-picky complaints and almost never take away from the gripping tension of the film.
Bentham’s Disclosure gleans from the Rashomon effect whereby truth is cloaked by the moral obligations of child-to-child sexual abuse claims, while also revealing the fractious impact on parental and professional livelihoods.
4/5
Disclosure is available to rent on home entertainment platforms from Wednesday 15th of September.