Allure Review ★★★

Recognising signs from her own troubled relationship with her father and boss William (Denis O’Hare), thirtysomething lesbian cleaner Laura Drake (Evan Rachel Wood) takes drastic steps to rescue 16-year-old pianist Eva (Julia Sarah Stone) from her domineering mother Nancy (Maxim Roy). However, the genial hostess quickly becomes a controlling captor.
★★★
In their debut feature, photographer brothers Carlos and Jason Sanchez put a fresh spin on the abduction scenario seen in the likes of Markus Schleinzer’s Michael, Lenny Abrahamson’s Room and Ben Young’s Hounds Of Love. But, while they provide Evan Rachel Wood with the role of a lifetime, the Canadian siblings struggle to flesh out the secondary characters and turn too many blind eyes to the more improbable aspects of the plot.

First seen indulging in a sordid motel encounter with a blindfolded stranger, Laura (Wood) strives to hide the fact she’s a damaged soul. But, working for the father who abused her, she is reminded on a daily basis of the anguish that shapes her own interaction with Eva (Stone), a teenage piano prodigy who can never please the stage mother living vicariously through her daughter’s talent. Latching on to Eva’s vulnerability, Laura presents herself as a protector. However, once she has persuaded Eva to move in with her, Laura plays on her insecurities and inexperience to make her feel grateful for her enforced sanctuary, even after their relationship turns sexual.

Using shallow focus to reinforce Eva’s sense of confinement and Laura’s inability to see the bigger picture, the first-time writer-directors deftly recycle French auteur Jean Renoir’s maxim about everybody having their own reasons. Eschewing thriller gambits for downbeat realism, they ably sustain the mood of menace. But, while the smitten Wood pushes the unsuspecting Stone’s buttons with chilling precision, the slipshod nature of the police investigation and the speed with which the latter’s mother gives up her search ring as hollow as the ease with which Stone succumbs to Stockholm Syndrome. Nevertheless, Wood excels, as she shifts between displays of coaxing concern, creepy affection and sociopathic fury to keep the perturbed Stone off her guard.

Deeply unsettling, but ultimately unsatisfying psychological drama that over-manipulates its specious situation. However, Evan Rachel Wood is quite superb as the victim-turned-predator who is caught in a spiral of abuse.