Director: Dan Kokotajlo
Talent: Siobhan Finneran, Robert Emms, Bronwyn James, Sacha Parkinson
Released: 27 July
When a birthday card arrives in the post for 18-year-old Alex, her mum routinely tells her to send it back. As a Jehovah’s Witness, Alex has never celebrated her birthday and this occasion is no different.
A stunning first feature from writer-director Daniel Kokotajlo (himself a former Jehovah’s Witness), Apostasy is the story of the Whitlings – Ivanna and her two daughters, shy and reserved Alex and her older, more outspoken sister Luisa. Early on we discover that Luisa is less bound by the strict rules that characterise her faith than her family. In one memorable scene for instance she breaks with convention to give some ‘non-believer’ classmates from college a lift home in her car, a journey that quickly becomes strained when Alex assumes the role of preacher to the bemusement of her sister’s oblivious friends.
When Luisa becomes pregnant, her mother asks her to start bringing the baby’s father to meetings. Luisa refuses and is quickly ‘disfellowshipped’ or excommunicated from the church, meaning she is forced to move out to a grim one-bed flat and cease all contact with her family. More than her pregnancy, the patriarchal elders – a small group of men that preside over the Whitling’s congregation – disapprove of Luisa’s lack of shame or what they describe as ‘repentance’.
Shielding us from some of this story’s most dramatic scenes – Luisa’s difficulties play out alongside a deeply tragic, more private struggle endured by Alex – Kokotajlo’s restrained script is highly controlled as is every frame of action, effectively shot in subdued light by Adam Scarth in tightly contained academy ratio. While Apostasy is unwavering in its depiction of the devastation wrought by a belief system that disregards empirical truth, it also finds room for considerable empathy and compassion for its three central characters, a feature which makes this extraordinary film both intelligent and deeply humane.
Words: Alice Butler
