''True Things'' is a 2021 British

psychological drama Psychological drama or psychodrama is a sub-genre of drama that places emphasis on psychological elements. It often overlaps with other genres such as crime, fantasy, black comedy, and science fiction, and it is closely related with the psychologi ...

film directed by

Harry Wootliff Harry Wootliff is an English film and television director and screenwriter. Early life Wootliff trained at Elmhurst ballet school and Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Career Wootliff's debut short film ''Nits'' screened in Cannes Directors' For ...

from a screenplay she co-wrote with

Molly Davies Molly Davies is a British playwright originally from Norfolk but now living in London. A graduate of the University of Kent at Canterbury, she is currently writing and works part-time as a teacher. Davies is a product of the Royal Court Theat ...

, based on the 2010 novel ''True Things About Me'' by

Deborah Kay Davies Deborah Kay Davies is a Welsh poet, writer, and educator. She received her PhD from Cardiff University. In 2009 she received a Wales Book of the Year for English-language for the short story collection ''Grace, Tamar and Laszlo the Beautiful'' ( ...

. It stars

Ruth Wilson Ruth Wilson (born 13 January 1982) is an English actress. She is known for her performances as the eponymous protagonist in ''Jane Eyre'' (2006), as Alice Morgan in the BBC psychological crime drama ''Luther'' (2010–2013, 2019), as Alison L ...

and Tom Burke. The film had its world premiere at the

78th Venice International Film Festival The 78th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 1 to 11 September 2021. South Korean director Bong Joon-ho was appointed as the President of the Jury, marking the first time a South Korean director has been picked as the festiv ...

on 4 September 2021, and was released theatrically in the United Kingdom on 1 April 2022 by

Picturehouse Entertainment Picturehouse Cinemas is a network of cinemas in the United Kingdom, operated by Picturehouse Cinemas Ltd and owned by Cineworld. The company runs its own film distribution arm, Picturehouse Entertainment, which has released acclaimed films su ...

. It received positive reviews from critics.

Synopsis

Kate works in a benefits office in the English coastal town of

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2001 it had a population of about 40,000. In 2011, according to t ...

. She is sleepwalking through life when a chance sexual encounter with a charismatic stranger awakens her. High on infatuation, she finds herself inexplicably drawn to this mysterious man. Hoping he will provide the escape she so desperately desires, she embarks on an emotionally dangerous journey that slowly begins to consume her.

Cast

as Kate * Tom Burke as Blond *

Hayley Squires Hayley Squires (born 16 April 1988) is an English actress and playwright, best known for her work in the Ken Loach film ''I, Daniel Blake''. Squires has also appeared in ''Call the Midwife'' (2012), '' Southcliffe'' (2013), ''Complicit'' (2013), ...

as Alison *

Elizabeth Rider Elizabeth Rider is an English actress, sometimes credited as Liza Rider. She is known for her portrayal of Lynette Driver in the BBC soap opera ''Doctors''. Education Rider trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she was awa ...

as Mum * Frank McCusker as Dad *

Ann Firbank Ann Firbank (born 9 January 1933) is an actress of film, television, and stage whose career extends from 1956. One of Firbank's more notable roles is her 1971 portrayal of Anne Elliot in the serial ''Persuasion'', an adaptation of Jane Austen's ...

as Nan *

Tom Weston-Jones Tom Weston-Jones (born 29 June 1987) is an English actor, known for his role in ''Copper'' and for playing Richard Lee in ''Warrior'' (2019). Early life and education Weston-Jones was born in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, and was brought ...

as Rob

Production

Ruth Wilson and

Jude Law David Jude Heyworth Law (born 29 December 1972) is an English actor. He received a British Academy Film Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, two Tony Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. In 2007, he received an Honorary Césa ...

produced the film, alongside The Bureau,

BBC Films BBC Film (formerly BBC Films) is the feature film-making arm of the BBC. It was founded on 18 June 1990, and has produced or co-produced some of the most successful British films of recent years, including ''Truly, Madly, Deeply'', '' Alan Part ...

and the

BFI The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

. Filming began in early 2020 but was halted due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Production resumed in September 2020 in

, England, and

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

, Spain, and wrapped the following month. Other filming locations include the

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

towns of

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and Westbrook, Kent, ...

and

Broadstairs Broadstairs is a coastal town on the Isle of Thanet in the Thanet district of east Kent, England, about east of London. It is part of the civil parish of Broadstairs and St Peter's, which includes St Peter's, and had a population in 2011 of ...

Release

''True Things'' had its world premiere at the

, and also screened at the

2021 Toronto International Film Festival The 2021 Toronto International Film Festival, the 46th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held from September 9 to 18, 2021.Barry Hertz"TIFF planning ‘substantially bigger’ 2021 film festival compared to last year’ ...

and the 2021

BFI London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1957 and held in the United Kingdom, running for two weeks in October with co-operation from the British Film Institute. It screens more than 300 films, documentaries and shor ...

, where it won the IWC Shaffhausen award. In March 2021,

acquired UK and Ireland distribution rights to the film, while North American distribution rights were acquired by

Samuel Goldwyn Films Samuel Goldwyn Films is an American film company that licenses, releases and distributes art-house, independent and foreign films. It was founded by Samuel Goldwyn Jr., the son of the Hollywood business magnate/mogul, Samuel Goldwyn. The curre ...

that October. The film was released theatrically in the United Kingdom on 1 April 2022, and was released in theatres and on digital in the United States on 9 September 2022. Wootliff has discussed what appealed to her about the book, as well as the universality of the material for both men and women: "What I loved about it was the feeling of infatuation, of addiction to somebody ..You know those relationships where you think 'why did I ever go there?' It's one of those." A sentiment articulated by critic

Mark Kermode Mark James Patrick Kermode (, ; ; born 2 July 1963) is an English film critic, musician, radio presenter, television presenter and podcaster. He is the chief film critic for ''The Observer'', contributes to the magazine ''Sight & Sound'', prese ...

of ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'': "Anyone who has ever defined themselves through the eyes of others, or sought self-worth in unworthy romance, will recognise both the agony and ecstasy of Kate's predicament."

Critical reception

''True Things'' received positive reviews from critics. On

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 holds an approval rating of 81% based on 68 reviews, with an average rating of 6.7/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Elevated by its stars' magnetic chemistry, ''True Things'' mines complex, character-driven drama from an ill-advised romance."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, 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 arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which uses a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

, assigned the film a score of 68 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The film's lack of easy solutions, in relation to the protagonist being a complex and multi-layered female character, was noticed by Rebecca Harrison of ''

Sight and Sound ''Sight and Sound'' (also spelled ''Sight & Sound'') is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). It conducts the well-known, once-a-decade ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time, ongoing ...

'': "It feels frustrating because it's meant to: this is what it's like to care for this character... a film that refuses to simplify Kate's experience or force the character to give everything of herself away." Tim Robey of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' commented on the way society pigeon holes women like Kate: "There's something affecting about her struggle to be a normal person, doing what normal people do, while independently rebelling against the drudgery required of her to fit in", describing the role as Wilson's "best film work to date." Kevin Mayer of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' pointed to the inherent contradictions of complex and emotionally-led female characters, which is a cornerstone of Wootliff's film style: "Wootliff and Wilson create a central character who is irrational, sometimes infuriating, but always intensely sympathetic." On its US release, Sheila O'Malley of '' RogerEbert.com'' noted the film's assuredly grown-up perspective, "for those of you who miss films made by adults and for adults, films which treat things like sex and loneliness with respect and honesty, True Things isn't to be missed." Nicolas Rapold of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' singled out the camerawork "because it is the kind that is often described as 'intimate' but rarely pulled off with such Maysles-esque aplomb." Referring to the central character of Kate, Noel Murray of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' highlighted the use of

PJ Harvey Polly Jean Harvey (born 9 October 1969) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. Primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, she is also proficient with a wide range of instruments. Harvey began her career in 1988 when she joined loca ...

's song "

Rid of Me ''Rid of Me'' is the second studio album by English singer-songwriter and musician PJ Harvey. It was released by Island Records in May 1993, approximately one year after the release of her critically acclaimed debut album '' Dry''. It marked a ...

" as a "simultaneously sad and thrilling assertion of her own right to exist". Fran Hoepfner of ''

The Wrap ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' was drawn to the depth and complexity of the story, "A relationship like the one Kate pursues with Blond isn't fed by reason; it's fed by something larger and stranger and endlessly unknowable."

References

External links

* * * {{Rotten Tomatoes 2021 films 2021 drama films 2020s British films 2020s English-language films 2020s erotic drama films 2020s psychological drama films BBC Film films British erotic drama films British psychological drama films Film productions suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic Films based on British novels Films set in Kent Films shot in Kent Films shot in the province of Málaga