Movie Review: ‘Disclosure’

Review by Lisa Payne

“There are two sides to every story. Then there’s the truth.”

Opening scene – Emily (Matilda Ridgway) and Danny (Mark Leonard Winter) are videoing themselves making love.

We then cut to buttoned-up, conservative Bek (Geraldine Hakewill) scheduling a playdate for her children “just let me check the children’s calendar”. We hear a scream, then another. Bek is distracted and goes to see what the matter is. She tells her 9-year old son, Ethan (Kieran Cochrane) to leave the younger children alone.

Bek and Joel (Tom Wren) arrive unannounced with police detective, Steve (Gregg Stone) at Emily and Dan’s, who are enjoying time together nude by the pool. Steve is protecting politician Joel from a death threat. Joel sends a text to Emily & Danny have to scramble to put some clothes on, literally as they are walking into the house uninvited.

4-year old Natasha (Giselle Eve Palacios-Banay), has accused Ethan of sexually assaulting her. Bek and Joel want this sorted i.e., buried. There are so many layers to this story. Disclosure is a carefully-choreographed film where the tension ratchets up through incidents and increasingly nasty allegations from all sides. The conflicts include gender, class, patriarchy, past sexual abuse, professional jealousy, lifestyles, child-rearing differences and various other nuances.

Because the film is mostly set around the pool, it relies on the character development and dialogue to be sharp, and to the point in order to hold our attention. And for a very long time, except for a couple of contrivances so conversations can happen, it does.

I came to the conclusion that these four are friends of convenience and mutual interests. It’s like a house of cards that threatens to be knocked down depending on what they decide to do about the allegation. Or maybe the real you is amplified during stressful situations.

The four main actors are excellent and believable.

The ending is very ambiguous, and an unsurprising truth is revealed. Available on Tuesday, June 30th.