TIFF 2026 Review: The Liberation – “The film finds the emotional weight necessary to balance its dark premise with a profound sense of grace.”

Courtesy of TIFF

Clarity. Honesty. Forgiveness.  It’s what is promised on the business card handed to Rita Cooper (Carrie Coon) by a new customer at her bank.  All she needs to do is head down to the beach after work to watch the sunset and have an open mind.

Rita is a woman plagued by her present and her past. A child during the Holocaust, she watched her mother and sisters get ripped away. She survived, as did her father, who is now elderly and ailing, a full-time job to go along with her full time job as assistant manager at the bank.  Her husband (Coon’s real-life partner Tracy Letts) and two daughters, Ella (Bella Ramsey) and Jo (Odessa Young) help, but with Ella going off to college and an otherwise empty nest looming, Rita is overwhelmed.  Not only by responsibility, but by grief and guilt.

So when the beautiful and charismatic Ricki (Lily James) walks into her bank and hands her that card, she initially declines.  Who has time to go to the beach? Has she ever been to the beach to watch the sunset? But after a particularly emotional afternoon recalling her past, she relents.  What she finds is a sisterhood.  A group of women who laugh, who listen to music, who dance, who feel.  Women who heal.  But as she succumbs to the exploits of Ricki, and a new sense of self, she also eventually walks away from her family, only to be under the control of a completely different power. When, years later, her daughters track her down, it threatens the community which has given her a sense of belonging.

Director Guy Nattiv (who wrote the screenplay alongside Noa Berman Herzberg) is telling a fictionalized yet personal story in The Liberation based on his family’s experience when his grandmother left to become part of a cult.  What makes his film unique is not only the way that it tries to understand Rita’s motivations, but also in how it largely doesn’t villainize Ricki.  As the story weaves between timelines, which both works for and sometimes against this film, we can comprehend why Rita finds comfort in Ricki’s offerings and this group of women.  “How often do you feel unseen, unfulfilled?” she is asked.  And we know the answer is always.  We know that internal peace and contentment are out of reach due to her unresolved trauma.

Lily James does some of her best work here, able to turn on and off her alluring persona at the drop of a hat as the group’s leader.  You can feel the draw as she preys on the vulnerable.  She’s emotionally manipulative, yet she has this air of empathy and confidence that is particularly attractive to her followers.  Ricki’s backstory is never revealed, apparently cut from the already over two hour film.  But, this isn’t her story.  It’s Rita’s.  And Carrie Coon is tremendous.  She often plays incredibly strong women, but here she is exposed.  Because of Coon’s formidable, sensitive performance, we never feel that Rita is foolish for joining this cult, only dread for what seems to be inevitable.  Adding to the trio of excellent performances is Bella Ramsey who acts as an anchor, the one person whom Ricki doesn’t seem able to influence.  She also offers a touch of comedic relief with her sarcasm in an otherwise dark narrative. Without James, Ramsey and Coon at its core, The Liberation might have faltered, but with their dedicated storytelling, instead the film finds the emotional weight necessary to balance its dark premise with a profound sense of grace.

Because of his personal connection, Nattiv crafts The Liberation in a way that becomes more intimate and heartbreaking.  Not until its final act does the film really become more what you might expect, with the cult causing bodily harm and the conflict turning back to Rita who must make a life-altering decision.  It’s then you see how ingrained this indoctrination has truly become.  Yet, Nattiv still honours his grandmother, basing his film in compassion and in a way, forgiveness.

The Liberation had its Canadian premiere at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival on Wednesday, September 16th.  For more information head to tiff.net