John Michael McDonagh hasn’t had a film out since 2016’s “War On Everyone.” Now, the director behind “Calvary” and “Ned Kelly” returns with a class-based thriller in Morocco’s High Atlas Mountains.
“The Forgiven” stars Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain as a wealthy couple on the way to a lavish party that have a chance accident on the road and must deal with the consequences when their attempt to cover it up goes wrong. The film offers a tense story about privilege and justice based on Lawrence Osborne‘s novel of the same name.
Here’s the film’s official synopsis:
Speeding through the Moroccan desert to attend an old friend’s lavish weekend party, wealthy Londoners David and Jo Henninger are involved in a tragic accident with a local teenage boy. Arriving late at the grand villa with the debauched party raging, the couple attempts to cover up the incident with the collusion of the local police. But when the boy’s father arrives seeking justice, the stage is set for a tension-filled culture clash in which David and Jo must come to terms with their fateful act and its shattering consequences.
Alongside Fiennes and Chastain, “The Forgiven” also stars Matt Smith, Ismael Kanater, Caleb Landry Jones, and Abbey Lee. Saïd Taghmaoui and Christopher Abbott round out the main cast.
McDonagh writes and directs the film, which had its world premiere at TIFF last September (read our review of it here). “The Forgiven” also has its US premiere at Tribeca Film Festival next month. The film then hits theaters on July 1. Watch the trailer below.