Fantastic!

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Alice (Emily VanCamp) has meaningless sex. She's an assistant editor at a small NY publishing house. Her boss gives her an opportunity to take care of writer Milan Daneker (Michael Nyqvist). Milan is a longtime client of her agent father. Fifteen years earlier, Milan was a writing mentor to underage Alice (Ana Mulvoy-Ten). She is presently struggling to have the courage to show her writing. Despite a new fulfilling relationship, her life starts to unravel.Ana Mulvoy-Ten has such a babyface that it gets extremely creepy. It's obvious from the start and is hard to watch. It's part Lolita but it's done in a very artful Lifetime way. The incident is never in doubt and needed to be brought out earlier. It's like stretching out something distasteful for dramatic effect. It doesn't work and I would rather get it over with. VanCamp does a nice job in this troubling role. There are issues but it holds together overall.

Why was Alice supposed to be able to stop Milan touching her when he tried to grope her breasts but was unable to stop him when he said that he wanted to make her come? The contradiction was utterly stupid and pathetic and completely ruined the film.Why did Milan, a middle-aged man go up to Alice, a sixteen year old girl and say "I want to make you come.", and start stroking her between her legs whilst ordering her in a cold tone of voice to keep her eyes open?Was it because he wanted to treat her with love and affection and make her feel happy, excited, worthwhile, wanted and uplifted or because he wanted to treat her with contempt and make her feel unhappy, shocked, worthless, debased and degraded?Why would an adult male want to treat a female with contempt and make her feel unhappy, shocked, worthless, debased and degraded?Would it be because he felt worthless, debased and degraded himself at the thought that whereas he found her extremely desirable and attractive she didn't return the compliment, and that, as a result, he felt overwhelmed with humiliation, envy and resentment?

For those who have survived sexual abuse by an older, respected predator who seems to deserve admiration in all other ways, and the resultant devastation of this experience in adult life...I found this statement by the writer/director Marya Cohn:"The girl in the book is a deeply personal story about a young woman who reclaims her body, her voice, and ultimately her power. At first, she must grapple with disturbing memories from her childhood and their profound, residual effects on her adult life. But she is eventually able to overcome her past and take control of her future. I intend for her victorious spirit to offer hope to all those with troubled pasts who must rise above them to live fulfilling lives."Excellent film, especially for those who have lived through various shades of the experience. I am surprised the phrase "sexual abuse" is not mentioned in promos for the movie.Ana Mulvoy-Ten, who plays the part of young Alice, is especially impressive in her portrayal of the full spectrum of emotions. I hope more attention is lavished on this highly successful film.

An interesting and believable story taken out from the everyday life. It presents a young woman with a weak character whose life is a mess. She seems to be stressed constantly and not being able to go on with her life because of a deep emotional trauma during childhood.The film explores the emotional aspect of the human character and how getting stuck in the past leads to absence of future. Alice is a synonym of an introvert. Despite her hurried life she makes no progress and seems to be standing still. She works hard but she's not successful. She knows what she wants from life but she doesn't do anything to get it. She has built a wall around herself to shield her from the outside world because she's afraid of it.Aside from the actors love as a two-faced feeling also plays a role in this film. Its first act is to disappoint to a level that everything after that is stereotyped as deceitful and untrustworthy. Then it transitions with the main character to show its other face that can tear down the walls someone intentionally built to prevent the future to come in.This film shows the wonderful things that can happen when you open your mind, stop existing in the past and start living today for the future.