''In Darkness'' is a 2018

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

directed by Anthony Byrne and written by Byrne and

Natalie Dormer Natalie Dormer (born 11 February 1982)Ed Skrein Edward George Skrein (; born 29 March 1983) is a British actor, film director, screenwriter and rapper. He gained experience as an actor in independent films or television series. In the years that followed, he became known for portraying Daario ...

Emily Ratajkowski Emily O'Hara Ratajkowski (, ; born June 7, 1991) is an American model and actress. Born in London to American parents and raised in Encinitas, California, Ratajkowski began acting as a child before she gained a recurring role on the Nickelodeon ...

and

Joely Richardson Joely Kim Richardson (born 9 January 1965) is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Julia McNamara in the FX drama series ''Nip/Tuck'' (2003–10) and Katherine Parr in the Showtime series ''The Tudors'' (2010). She has also appea ...

. The film was released on 25 May 2018 in the United States by

Vertical Entertainment Vertical Entertainment is an American film distribution and production company founded by producers Richard B. "Rich" Goldberg and Mitch Budin in 2012. History In 2012, Rich Goldberg & Mitch Budin founded Vertical Entertainment, a film distribut ...

and on 6 July 2018 in the United Kingdom by Shear Entertainment.

Plot

Sofia McKendrick (

Natalie Dormer Natalie Dormer (born 11 February 1982)

), the daughter of Serbian philanthropist Zoran Radic ( Jan Bijvoet), who has committed war crimes during the Bosnian War, and currently suspected of running criminal organizations. Despite the controversy surrounding Veronique's family, Sofia appears to have an amicable relationship with her, although lately has been noticing something wrong with her. During a discussion in an elevator, Veronique slips Sofia a USB drive and tells her that the perfume is Liquid Gold. One night, Sofia overhears a struggle occurring in Veronique's room and witnesses Veronique fall to her death. Despite this, Sofia denies witnessing anything to the police Detective Mills (

Neil Maskell Neil Maskell (born 1976) is an English actor, writer and director who is known for his appearances in British crime and horror films such as '' The Football Factory'' and ''Kill List''. Early life Maskell was born in London. As a youth, he pl ...

), while discreetly holding the USB drive. Later at an event hosted by Radic, Sofia performs and overhears Radic and his associates discussing the circumstances of Veronique's death, in the process revealing that he was the one behind it. Radic's head of security Alexandra Gordon (

) and her brother Marc (

Ed Skrein Edward George Skrein (; born 29 March 1983) is a British actor, film director, screenwriter and rapper. He gained experience as an actor in independent films or television series. In the years that followed, he became known for portraying Daario ...

) have a discreet conversation and it is revealed that Veronique was twelve weeks pregnant and that Marc was sent to kill her; it is also revealed that Marc was having an affair with her and is likely the father of her child. Radic forms a fixation on Sofia for her connection to Veronique, and Sofia ends up having to dodge police questions and Radic's men looking over Veronique's apartment. Marc rescues Sofia from a rape attempt and later saves her from an attempted kidnapping and torture. Sofia spends some time with Marc and learns of his and Veronique's affair, and he explains to her that Veronique committed suicide out of paranoia. This in turn leads to an affair between Marc and Sofia. As it turns out Sofia has her own vendetta towards Radic, as she confides in her adopted father Niall (

James Cosmo James Ronald Gordon Copeland , known professionally as James Cosmo (b. 1947), is a Scottish film and television actor known for his appearances in films including ''Highlander'', ''Braveheart'', '' Trainspotting'', ''Jagame Thandhiram'', ''Tro ...

), and gives him the USB drive and reveals that Liquid Gold is the drive's password, which reveals Radic's assets and his criminal operations. Sofia recounts how while she was blind, she had a sister, Balma, who could see but would pretend to be blind for her sister's benefit. It's revealed that Sofia's family were once friends with Radic in Bosnia, but Radic betrayed her family and personally led the paramilitaries in the massacre of Sofia's family. Niall was a soldier who rescued and protected Sofia for years while she was planning revenge. In addition to this, it's discovered that Veronique has been planning to expose the truth of her father's crimes, but knew that her days were numbered; this was the reason she gave Sofia the USB drive. Sofia learns that Alexandra is also looking for the USB drive, hoping to use the information to usurp Radic and his operations. Sofia hands Alexandra a copy of the drive in exchange for a private audience with Radic at Veronique's funeral. There, Sofia holds a blade to Radic's throat and he realizes the truth of Sofia's past and motives; Radic taunts Sofia by revealing he was in love with her mother, and that he raped her shortly before she gave birth to a daughter; Radic implies and is under the impression that Sofia is his biological daughter. Radic leaves the funeral as Sofia is emotionally devastated by these revelations. As Detective Mills looks into Sofia's past, it's also discovered that "Sofia" is an alias; the ''real'' Sofia was Niall's biological daughter who died in infancy, and Niall named Balma "Sofia" after taking her in. Niall soon passes away while in the hospital. When Radic discovers Alexandra's treachery, and orders her to be killed; despite the appeal from his sister, Marc leaves Alexandra to die due to her indirect involvement with his unborn child's death. Radic drives to Sofia's apartment with the intent on personally killing her, while Marc rushes to her rescue. Meanwhile, Detective Mills is watching surveillance of Sofia's visit earlier in the front office and he notices Sofia looking at something. As he went to get coffee in the front office, he realizes she analyzed Marc's wanted poster and makes his way to her apartment. As a fight ensues, Marc takes out Radic's men, while Sofia initially holds her own despite her seeming disadvantage. Radic quickly gets the upper hand and prepares to kill Sofia, until Sofia reaches a piece of broken mirror and moves to impale Radic's neck with it. However, just then Marc barges in and shoves Radic out the window. Radic falls onto a spiked fence, where he's impaled and dies. As Sofia tends to Marc's wounds, there is a final revelation; Sofia was never blind and could see the whole time. Flashbacks show that during the massacre of her family, her blind sister was the one who was killed while they were hiding. Sofia, real name Balma, took her deceased sister's identity and feigned blindness for years. Because she could see, she saw a "Wanted Poster" and realizes that Marc is a wanted fugitive. The film ends as Marc encourages her to run, while he takes the fall for Radic's death, and Sofia flees the apartment.

Cast

Natalie Dormer Natalie Dormer (born 11 February 1982)Lexie Benbow-Hart as young Sofia *

as Marc Gordon *

as Veronique Radic *

as Oscar Mills * Jan Bijvoet as Zoran Radic *

as Niall McKendrick ** Ethan Cosmo as young Niall *

as Alexandra Gordon *

Olegar Fedoro Olegar Fedoro ( ''né'' Olegár Pablo Fedóro; born 6 March 1958) is a Ukrainian-born former Soviet performer who later became a Spanish and then English actor. He enrolled in the acclaimed VGIK Film School (All-Russian State University of Ci ...

as Orthodox Priest * Amber Anderson as Jane *

Hala Gorani Hala Basha-Gorani (; born March 1, 1970) is an American journalist, most recently working as an anchor and correspondent for CNN International, based in London. She is also a war correspondent. She previously anchored CNN's ''Hala Gorani Tonight' ...

as herself

Production

Sofia is depicted as living in

Maida Vale Maida Vale ( ) is an affluent residential district consisting of the northern part of Paddington in West London, west of St John's Wood and south of Kilburn. It is also the name of its main road, on the continuous Edgware Road. Maida Vale is ...

, London, where scenes were shot for the film, including a flower shop on Lauderdale Road which was converted to act as a café. Sofia and Veronique's building is located in Bramham Gardens, Kensington. Other filming locations included

Brompton Cemetery Brompton Cemetery (originally the West of London and Westminster Cemetery) is a London cemetery, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries. Establ ...

Ealing Hospital Ealing Hospital is a district general NHS hospital, part of London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust, located in the Southall district of the London Borough of Ealing, West London, England. It lies on the south side of the Uxbridge ...

, the

Thames Embankment The Thames Embankment is a work of 19th-century civil engineering that reclaimed marshy land next to the River Thames in central London. It consists of the Victoria Embankment and Chelsea Embankment. History There had been a long history of ...

New Zealand House New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

and the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...

Release

In February 2018,

acquired US distribution rights to the film. The film was released on 25 May 2018 in the United States. In the United Kingdom, the film was released on 6 July 2018 by Shear Entertainment.

Reception

Box office

In the United Kingdom, the film grossed £1,550 in its opening week from 10 theaters.

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval rating of based on reviews from critics, with an average rating of . On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, it has a score of 59 out of 100 based on reviews from seven critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". The film, which features Dormer nude and contains a sex scene, has been criticised for what some critics called "gratuitous nudity". Dormer dismissed this in an interview with ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', saying, "There has to be sexuality in the power play of a thriller. We have all got bodies, after all. In this film the sex scene, which for me was a love-making scene, is a metaphor for the way my character connects with the part played by Ed Skrein. Nakedness is a good equaliser and the shower scene also shows the tattoos on my character's body and makes it clear she is not quite who you think."

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 5164184 2018 films 2018 independent films 2018 thriller films American films about revenge American independent films American thriller films British films about revenge British independent films British thriller films Films about blind people Films about pianos and pianists Films set in London Films shot in London 2010s English-language films 2010s American films 2010s British films