Here Before

Andrea Riseborough excels as a grieving mother who wonders if the daughter of her new neighbour might be more than she seems.

Laura (Riseborough) and Brendan (Jonjo O’Neill) lost their daughter Josie in a car accident a few years ago. They now live in a state of simmering tension with their teenage son Tadhg

(Lewis McAskie). When a couple move in next door with their young daughter, nothing seems amiss. But when Laura gives Megan (Niamh Dornan) a lift home from school one day, the young girl appears to be talking about places that Laura once took Josie. Finding it odd at first, Laura shakes the comments off. But Megan seems to know more about Josie’s relationship with her mother than she should and gradually Laura begins to suspect that there may be a link between the two girls.

Stacey Gregg’s hugely accomplished debut excels by implying rather than stating what is happening. It’s never quite clear if everything is unfolding in Laura’s head. But her shift in behaviour proves increasingly disruptive at home, which only exacerbates Laura’s sense of unease. Few contemporary actors can portray the frayed psyche of a character as compellingly as Riseborough. With Laura, she succeeds in conveying the confusion she feels as she starts to believe that Megan may be her daughter. It’s a stunning performance in a drama that echoes the unnerving brilliance of supernatural thrillers like as Don’t Look Now and The Others.