American Woman

Debra is thirty two and became a mother at sixteen; her daughter Bridget now lives in the same house with her own baby. One evening Bridget goes next door and does not come back. The police search, the town searches, nobody finds her. Years pass. Debra raises her grandson, has two relationships, changes jobs, moves house, and every year on the same day the search begins again. The film covers eleven years. Jake Scott directs. Sienna Miller plays Debra. The subject is not the disappearance but its continuing. The film does not follow the investigation; it describes how Debra's life goes on, and time advances in large jumps. It is among the most praised performances of Sienna Miller's career; the character is not sympathetic and the film does not correct her. Life in a working class town in Pennsylvania is given in detail; work, debt and family relations are the ground of the narrative. The information at the end arrives late and the film does not close there; the real matter is what is done afterwards. Its limit is structure; fitting eleven years into two hours turns some passages into summary. Who it is for: viewers who like character driven American drama and performance led films. Who it is not for: the subject is heavy, the jumps in time break the narrative, and the film offers no consolation.