User reviews

Conventional genre movies work their magic almost entirely through manipulating stereotypes. But many powerful movies work in reverse: they deconstruct stereotypes to challenge our boundary perceptions. Themes like feminism, racism and nationalism, are regularly pulled apart to see what makes them tick. In recent years, child sexual abuse has been in the spotlight and it is overwhelmingly treated as a moral absolute. However, the film Una (2016) challenges the norm by exploring ambivalences in a case of blatant abuse. In doing so, it places the audience squarely on the judge's bench. Adapted from the acclaimed 2005 stage play Blackbird, this tense drama-thriller explores the moral ambiguities of a criminal act that occurred 15 years ago between 40-year old Ray (Ben Mendelsohn) and 13-year old Una (Mara Rooney). The emotionally immature Ray was obsessed with the lonely and precocious Una over a three-month relationship before having 'consensual' sex with her. By chance, the incident was discovered and he spent four years in jail. Since then he changed his name and has tried to restore his life. Meanwhile Una's world spiralled into an emotional void. Now 28, she has tracked him down and unexpectedly confronts him at the factory where he works. Instead of attacking him for the abuse, she demands to know why he abandoned her after their one night together. They continue talking beyond the factory's closing time, then she tricks another employee to take her to Ray's home where his girlfriend is hosting a party. At this point, the intensity of the factory scenes becomes diluted and the sparring inconclusive. This is an explosive mix of issues, personality and circumstance. The film consists mostly of their verbal sparring about the illegal 'affair' with dialogue ranging from hysterical, passionate to icy cool within an industrial setting that is claustrophobic and alienating. It is beyond Ray's emotional capacity to understand what Una wants, while she vacillates between wanting to restore her juvenile obsession with him and wanting to see him wallow in guilt for his crime. Every time we feel contempt for him, we see a piece of the emotional puzzle indicating human weakness but not evil. Every time we admire Una's determination to hold Ray to account, we see a glimpse of her complicity and manipulation. Mara Rooney and Ben Mendelsohn fill their characters with confusion and remorse. At the same time, they depict genuine emotional connection with each other despite the legal, emotional and moral prohibitions that still frame their lives. Their performances are brilliant. At one level, this film is about the horrendous impact on victims and the abrogation of responsibility that occurs in cases of child sexual abuse. At another, it pulls apart the stereotype of victim and abuser to shed light on how it can happen and its painful aftermath. Some audiences may be repulsed at the level of sympathy shown to the perpetrator and the implicit sharing of responsibility between a juvenile and an adult for what is entirely an adult crime. Others may be shaken by the idea that such crimes may have any moral ambiguity at all. In any case, this is brave and provocative cinema that cuts across the guilt versus innocence binary.

Uncomfortable film to watch just because of the subject line. A woman tries to find the man who abused her when she was 13 because she is still hung on him and loves him wonders why he left her. Good cast with Rooney Mara, Ben Mendelsohn and Riz Ahmed. I thought the directing was also nice in scenes the tension was nicely set up but overall the subject line was very comfortable.

Una is uncomfortable and unnerving viewing, a film that will make your skin crawl on more than one occasion but thanks to some award worthy turns from its impressive lead performers, Benedict Andrews film is noteworthy as a character driven, dialogue heavy expose of some very heavy material.

Andrews film, which is based on David Harrower's esteemed play, keeps its stage play roots well and truly at the forefront as Rooney Mara's tormented Una takes a road trip to confront Ben Mendelsohn's factory foreman Peter, a man she knows from her childhood as Ray and a man with whom she had an illegal relationship with as a 13 year old teenage girl.

Largely taking place in Peter's workplace as he and Una discuss what happened, what could've been and what they feel, we get brief yet confronting flashbacks to Peter and Una's forbidden affiliation but mostly Andrews is focussing solely on Mara and Mendelsohn as the two competent performers work off each other too slowly tear away the layers to reveal their true motivations and inward thoughts.

Mara once again shows she is willing to be laid bare as an actress in another noteworthy turn while Mendelsohn, who has recently been cast more as a purely bad guy type role, gets one of his meatiest feature film roles yet as Peter.

His far from a likable or respectable person but Mendelsohn plays him to perfection, giving Peter just the right amount of humanity and against all the odds moments of compassion.

It's a role that could've fallen either way but the Aussie actor once more showcases why his regarded now as one of our all-time great exports. With Mara he shares a wonderful energy, while with the younger Una played by Ruby Stokes, Mendelsohn plays the role not predatory but more purely sad, a man consumed by feelings and urges that lead him to make his life's biggest mistake.

Una's greatest flaw as a film and ability too fully connect is strangely with the character of Una herself.

We feel her pain and understand the confusion and mental strain that has been bought down upon her but her reasoning behind confronting Peter and then her subsequent decisions from there are not that easy to understand. For a film that in many ways feels so realistic and raw, Una's consistently odd behaviour is hard to take, even when at times she is a heartbreakingly broken soul searching for closure on her past.

Final Say –

Not what you'd call an entertaining watch, thanks to some dark subject material and sombre to bleak tone, Una is an immaculately acted tale whose flawed characters don't always connect but thanks to Mara and Mendelsohn and Andrews carefully weighted hand behind-camera, this is a bleak drama that's a cut-above many similar productions.

3 ½ Ferris Wheel rides out of 5

Half a century after the well-known Lolita of Vladimir Nabokov subtly transformed into a cinematographic masterpiece by Stanley Kubrick, Una (2016) presents the ravages of a few-months romance between a man in his forties and a 13-years-old girl. This analysis is essentially revealed through the eyes of this teenager who has become a woman particularly disturbed and confused by this past as short as devastating.

Ben Mendelsohn and Rooney Mara play excellently, with an out-of-the-ordinary decency and an exemplary sobriety. In addition, the director Benedict Andrews successfully and coldly describes the havoc of an unusual relationship that challenges morality despite a 'consent' from the teen.

A tough, psychological drama about the trauma caused by pedophilia. A directorial debut by the Australian theatre director Benedict Andrews adapting the critically acclaimed stage play. A cinematic technique to parallel the real-time storytelling of a stage play of this nature is to have a curious camera voyeuristically track action. This serves as a plus but also a problem for this particular, sometimes hard to watch film. As a spectator 'spying' on such disturbing subject matter made me think twice about what I thought was morally right about the situation. I also would have liked to have seen more of the characters that had little screen time. That aside, extraordinary central performances by the emotionally cold Rooney Mara and unflinching Ben Mendelsohn.

A tale of forbidden love. The guy (Ben Mendelsohn) went to jail for it and started another life after that. The girl (Rooney Mara) still can't move on 15 years later, and confronts him. Also starring, Ruby Stokes and Riz Ahmed. Does sex even mean anything in our day and age? It certainly does when it comes to taboos such as „relations" between adult and minor – a story in the center of „Una". This particular topic may well be the most loaded of them all, which makes it difficult to even write about. It's an uncomfortable experience for sure, not just because of the topic, but for raising burning questions that nobody wants to answer, at least not in public. Not us the viewers, not the movie makers – director Benedict Andrews and David Harrower who has written both the theatre play and then screenplay „Una" is based on. The actors are satisfying. Mara is better than her usual (eloquent and tormented as suitable for the role), Mendelsohn is great as usual (one of the best not quite famous character actors the UK has today)... There is not much room for other major characters, but Stokes as young Una and Ahmed as the unwitting bystander brought into this mess are memorable too. I think I like Stoke's performance even better than Mara's but comparison is unfair because I have never admired Mara's acting abilities anyway. This is the first time that I have truly respected her screen work, ever. Bold role, bold project. The storytelling is, khm, less satisfying. Not only because of the uncomfortable topic and leaving much unanswered but overall approach is too artsy for my taste, so the movie has issues with pacing and holding tension. Una as a character would improve from additional development too. All in all, it's certainly compelling but I think it would make a more powerful short movie lasting, say, 30 minutes instead of 94.

I have no idea how so many people thought this movie was deep or why it's so critically acclaimed .

Rooney Mara is stunning and has great screen presence , but there really is nothing more to this . It's slow , tedious to watch and the ending leaves you wanting to pull your hair out.

It seems like an attempt at justifying a child predators actions.

This review of Una is spoiler free

*** (3/5)

IT'S ONLY A short time into Benedict Andrews' flawed but powerful paean about the complications of life after child abuse. When we have Rooney Mara's tile character Una, walking into her former neighbour's workplace to confront him about their past, specifically to ask him questions about his leaving after a sexual encounter the two had when she was 13-years-old. Written by David Harrower from his own complex play Blackbird. First time director Andrews depicts a series of heart wrenching events from a beautifully sun drenched barbecue party, with a young Una meeting her neighbour, Rey (Ben Mendelsohn) for the first time (fantastic work by newcomer Ruby Stokes), to him sitting in a court room awaiting a hearing in a couple of the many shining flashbacks. He shoots these brilliant moments with gripping almost real results. Led by Mara's brave naked performance and Mendelsohn's unflinching persona Una is a riveting drama which succeeds in almost all aspects.

It's not always an easy watch as Rey seduces this young girl, there's no graphic imagery on show but the words between Una and Rey physically describing what he did to her is enough to make you shudder. Physically she's damaged; she's been in constant pain for most of her life. Emotionally she's changed which her concerning mother (Fitzgerald) sees and tries to make amends by talking to her.

There are moments when her intent to be a hesitant woman bringing the good-cop-bad-cop routine card into the game, sometimes making her a brutal force sucking in all the sympathy. Rey, however, is the opposite, he is a broken man he feels sorry for leaving her in that situation. Throughout their conversation he begs for forgiveness hoping for one last drop of sympathy. Mendelsohn is so brilliantly nuanced here that he somehow manages to at least evoke a semblance of pity from the audience. While this works for a while thanks to Andrews' powerful direction managing to hold nothing back from his understanding of the characters to the general impact of drama.

It's not always on top of its game as there are buried problems - one is the pacing, some of the story fails to translate itself from Harrower's intelligent playwriting as some of it feels overly slow. And some of the flashbacks intertwine a few of the more important confrontation scenes. This unfortunately tends to be the bigger problem as it often can become difficult to follow a certain point of the story. Despite this Una is a riveting provocative drama with outstanding tour de force performances from both parties. Though uncomfortable in its material, it's a unique way of filmmaking which almost manages to be real - even after the credits have rolled it stays with you forever.

VERDICT: Worth the watch for the magnetic lead performances. But some of it feels that the play isn't correctly translated on the screen.

Tackling a difficult and sensitive subject on film is very brave, and also important in showing how awful sexual abuse is and the damaging effects it leaves on the victims. While a difficult subject, generally, due to the amount of ignorance and generalisations it garners (with victim blaming for example), it needs to be addressed more.

Like my fairly recent (a couple of months ago) viewing of 'The Girl in the Book', 'Una' is a tough watch but overall very rewarding, being beautifully done and emotionally powerful. Based on David Harrower's play 'Blackbird', although not a victim of sexual abuse, 'Una' really resonated with me and shows no signs of being afraid to show the full effects and not trivialise it. It also captures the claustrophobia of the play so that there is plenty of tension, but does it in a way that opens things out and not make it feel stage-bound (a danger with films/television translated from plays).

'Una' is not flawless. It does drag somewhat in the middle act and the shifts from past to present day to start with are not always clear. Otherwise, there is very little wrong with it and it does a huge amount right.

It's a good-looking film, being very nicely and atmospherically shot and lit. The music is never intrusive or too low-key, it doesn't overbear the drama while still having presence and in no way does it feel inappropriate.

Benedict Andrews directs with a suspenseful touch, passion for the subject and potent realism, he doesn't allow the film to hold back nor does he allow it to go overboard with the unsubtle. 'Una' is not always subtle but that is not an issue, the subject itself isn't subtle either. The script is taut and poignant, with the confrontation between the present day Una and Ray having so much harrowing truth.

What really makes 'Una' particularly good are the storytelling and performances. The story may drag in the middle at times, but the final act is electrifying and logical, not trivialising the effects of the abuse like the final act of 'The Girl in the Book' did and rings true far more. The confrontation is particularly harrowing while the main characters' thoughts, darkest desires and motivations are just as frightening, complex and difficult to fathom. On the most part, the past (through flashbacks) and present day time-lines are structured clearly and beautifully intertwined.

Rooney Mara and Ben Mendelssohn's performances are positively on blistering fire, particularly Mara, while that of Ruby Stokes is also hard to forget in the best of ways.

In conclusion, not quite one of my favourites of the year or ever, but powerful and brave film and that it was not an easy watch, considering the subject it's portraying, worked in its favour rather than against it. 8/10 Bethany Cox

An infatuated 13 year old waits 15 years to confront an illegal 'lover?' Not within the realm of reality! It just doesn't ring true... What did she do while waiting for the ultimate confrontation? Obtain an education, or get a decent job? We don't learn much about that long period of time. In spite of the rather contrived plot, acting performances were generally pretty good, however. Stokes, as young Una, was definitely very alluring bait..

This is not Vladimir Nabokov's classic novel turned into Stanley Kubrick's great film. Instead we have Rooney Mara(Una) as a late twenty something woman confronting a 50-ish man at his factory job somewhere in England. Flashbacks show a preteen Una becoming involved first as a friend and shortly later as a sexual conquest of her neighbor Ray. He has changed his name to Peter after a four year jail stint and is now married to an age appropriate woman. Una wants to know why he took advantage of her youthful innocence. He proclaims that it was true love and Una and the audience will be quite skeptical of his intentions. Several teary eyed scenes follow and the ending is not all that compelling. Rooney is believable as the disturbed young lady and she has no problem removing her clothes. As referenced earlier, Una does not come close to the depth and quality of "Lolita."

It was a good attempt to see the often repeated topic of child abuse out of different perspective, but it surely was not an easy task as the film needed to be careful not to defend abuse or make something good out of it. Most of the time it succeed there were however other times when I founded it unrealistic and actually pathetic. Those were just a few minor moments or reactions of the characters. Generally it is a 2 actors show and in that way very theatrical. Rooney Mara is very good in the lead role. Its not her best performance but it is a very adequate turn of a broken woman that is looking for answers and feels her whole life being undesirable. Ben Mendelsohn is the confer part was also very good - if not even better. I think he had the more difficult character to play as neither the audience nor the character nor probably Mendelsohn himself really could determine the darkest corners of this person. Nice little supporting turn by Riz Ahmed and generally a fine screenplay make this very worthwhile to watch. It serves as a nice showcase for two great actors.

Sure, we all know of Stockholm syndrome and how it can relate to victims of abuse. Sure, an abused person can be intensely and honestly enamored with the abuser. And finally, sure, a thirteen year old can be manipulative and flirty and even try to instigate an affair with an older man.

However, none of the above even remotely excuses the abuser.

If there were a movie about a 40 year old who somehow developed an intense crush on a 13 year old which he didn't act upon - sure, that movie could possibly be framed in such a way that it hopes to elicit sympathy for the tortured protagonist.

However, the moment the protagonist of this movie became involved in sexual abuse of the 13 year old, any credible argument that excuses his behavior seizes to exist.

There are reasons why this behavior is criminal. And I hope I don't have to spell them out.

There is nothing to "reconsider" or "deconstruct" there; nothing that calls for bravery in order to be reevaluated. No. Sometimes an apple is just an apple, and a middle aged guy who beds a prepubescent girl is just a pedophile.

The film tries to be smart in offering two possible lenses through which the action can be viewed: either you believe she was his only victim or you don't (drumroll: there's a hint in the title!) However, the film also obviously expects us to judge the protagonist differently in accordance with our chosen lens.

But as I've said we can't. He's an abuser whichever way you look. And having an ambivalent stand about this does not only not make you a good dramatist it makes you a bad human.

Other than that, the film is boring and pretentiously acted, lighted and scored, leaving you with the feeling that the play might have had some great dialogue that was its redeeming feature and that the filmmakers decided to cut and replace with something "more filmic" such as long gloomy contemplative sequences that are plain boring and self-serving.

Well done story of the damage such a crime can do to both victim and abuser.

Una is played well showing the confliction caused by the damage and by the human wanting to be loved.

Ray is also played well showing that even in asking for forgiveness he is manipulating and grooming her to his pleasure.

After this film was screened at the Toronto Film Festival today, an audience member asked director Andrews about the skill of lead actor Mendelsohn in his portrayal of such a deceitful and manipulative character. The host repeated the question without the adjectives but fortunately the question was answered as it was asked. Mr. Andrews noted that many audience members didn't see the "Ray" character in that fashion at all.

Indeed this ambiguity and its affect on Una is at the heart of this film as well as the play Blackbird upon which it is based. I generally am not happy when plays are translated into films but I found this adaptation to be quite the exception. The camera was able to extend the scope of the play to include scenes from the crucial events which occurred 15 years before the main confrontation which occupies most of the film.

A brilliant first film from director Andrews which will hopefully reach the wide audience it deserves.

Story line was very good, acting was excellent by all characters. Rooney Mara, of course, IS the picture, as Una is Focal point in most scenes. Her range is limited somewhat..and always has been. However, her persona IS a somewhat truncated one, in all her pictures, and in Real LIFE. She just uses what she has so brilliantly..always understating and well clear of any unauthentic spoken words or body language

Rooney is captivating to look at, and to hear her speak is also a pleasure. This is why she is such a sought after actress-she is so compelling. Thus, with a good story line and superb playing by all the characters, we are given our monies worth for sure, and a memorable viewing. So glad to see her used wisely. The last couple pics she has appeared in, were a bit weak..with Rooney still somehow bringing the movies up a notch or two in entertainment value.

This is the worst film I've seen in a long long time. It's hard to find a single positive thing to say about it. The storyline was awful, it was undeveloped, boring and wrong on so many human levels. The characters had no likability, to put it mildly. The acting was awful. The setting - a stark locker room, didn't change for 90% of the film. There was no conclusion or point to the whole saga. It was a complete waste of time. Avoid at all costs

This film tells the story of a woman who confronts the man who had a three month sexual relationship with her when she was thirteen years old.

"Una" deals with a forbidden love that stirs controversy and provokes thoughts. Initially Una seems to want revenge, but the events lead her to examine her true feelings and desires. The man's thoughts changes as well over the course of the evening, and this dynamic interaction keeps suspense and engagement going. What the man did was wrong, and what he is suggested to be doing at the end is very controversial. It will keep conversation going, if you watch it with friends.