Andrea Riseborough is quickly establishing a name for herself in the genre space. Within the last few years, Black Mirror, Mandy, The Grudge, and Possessor have demonstrated the actor’s unique and fearless approach when choosing characters and projects. Riseborough’s latest is the lead in Here Before, an unsettling and dramatic portrait of a grieving family that uses psychological thrills to highlight a tenuous grasp on reality.
Riseborough’s Laura is working on clearing her yard as a new family pulls up and begins the process of moving in next door. The new neighbor’s daughter, Megan (Niamh Dornan), immediately runs over to inquire about Laura’s home and family. While Laura tends to her own family, including taking her son Tadgh (Lewis McAskie) to school and back, Megan’s encounters grow with peculiar regularity. In turn, the bond between Megan and Laura grows, exacerbated by the vacuum in Laura’s heart left behind by her young daughter’s death. Megan’s overly familiar behavior leads Laura into suspecting that perhaps Megan is her deceased daughter, somehow. With those around her questioning Laura’s sanity, tensions begin to mount between neighbors.
Written and directed by Stacey Gregg in her feature debut, Here Before holds its answers close to the vest throughout, stretching its mysteries out as long as possible. Despite Laura’s unflappably upbeat demeanor, it’s clear that things aren’t quite healed at home. Her husband (Jonjo O’Neill) seems distant and unsure how to handle his wife’s insistence that she’s ok and that life has resumed. Tadgh’s retreated deep within a defensive bubble and easy to anger. All seem to tiptoe around their loss while trying to continue normality. Megan’s intrusive and personal nature seems initially healing for Laura, but there’s something very off from the beginning.
Gregg creates an unsettling atmosphere through the eerie way she presents the breadcrumbs to the truth. The way the score intentionally creates a foreboding mood. Most of all, it’s in the performances. Megan’s mother (Eileen O’Higgins) seems cautious of allowing her daughter near a strange woman, but that soon gives way to extreme discomfort that breeds resentment. Even Laura’s husband and son grow concerned for her mental wellbeing, the more she insists on the impossible. Gregg plays both sides of the fence, making strong cases for the unraveling mind of a grieving mother as well as a child with deep secrets and an ulterior motive. The filmmaker builds up both aspects of this mystery while ramping up the tension to a finale that will likely prove divisive based on expectations.
Here Before presents a dissolving reality of an obsessed mother still deep in the throes of sorrow. Old wounds are split open and rubbed raw by the dangling promise of the thing she wants most; her daughter. Gregg illustrates just how volatile that can be, with a dangerous ripple effect for everyone in Laura’s vicinity. It’s a simple story, perhaps far too simple, that builds towards a surprising yet understated finale. While well-executed, the final beats don’t feel quite as satisfying as everything that preceded the conclusion. What ultimately makes it work is Riseborough’s performance. She injects enough nuance to keep Laura relatable throughout her tumultuous arc. Here Before doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it does offer a solid psychological thriller that’s emotionally investing.
