Anchored in its excellent acting, where Michael Stuhlbarg deserves special mention for his turn as Fredrik (Julia Roberts’ Alma’s husband), this is a genuinely engaging and gripping take on sexual abuse within academia. Probably the only “but” in the performances falls on Ayo Edebiri, who, while still delivering very solid work, is clearly the only one who doesn’t quite manage to harness the power of the tight close-ups, as she struggles to maintain the same level of eye contact as Roberts and Andrew Garfield.

Nonetheless, it is not only the strength of the acting that heightens the tension of the conflict. A crucial element is the fact that we are placed in the position of the “in‑betweener”, the “arbiter”, the “moderator”, a refreshing novelty, as stories of this kind usually push us towards the perspective of either the victim or the assailant. Here, being positioned squarely in the middle, while simultaneously being given enough clues to mistrust the contrasting accounts offered by the two parties (Garfield’s Hank and Edebiri’s Maggie), further complicated by Roberts’ character’s past trauma, makes for an enjoyably uncomfortable watch that keeps you on edge.

The film does stumble slightly when it strays from the purity of the mystery and attempts to build a moral discourse around it, as well as when it tries to weave in elements of physical suffering.

However, what truly throws you off at several points is the overuse of an overly intrusive, ever‑present score, which becomes quite an irritation once you realise that certain scenes would have benefited greatly from its absence.