Prima Facie Film Review: Harrowing & Real

Harrowing, infuriating, and terrifying real, Prima Facie is a very timely and well adapted film.

But everything changes when Tessa is raped by her colleague and lover Julian Brooks (Daniel Ings). When Tessa turns to the legal system she devoted her life to for justice, her entire life, upbringing, and her very own character are scrutinised and questioned.

The themes of Prima Facie are not only important to discuss but they are more urgent than ever. The narrative in this movie may be fictional, but these types of cases happen every day in real life. The Cornell Seven is just one of the most recent examples of a harrowing and real sexual assault case that was initially dismissed when the victim spoke out. As Tessa reminds us at the end of the film, something has to be changed in a legal system that simply doesn’t work. Arguably, a much broader cultural shift needs to happen as well in the way women are viewed and treated in society as recent reaction to rape case proved once more.

The sound design is especially impressive. From the very beginning, Prima Facie uses its sound to portray Tessa’s inner thoughts and this continues throughout the entire film. This is especially compelling because in the original source material, the audience is in the protagonist’s head at all times, hearing her every thought. Naturally, this cannot happen in the same way in a movie, but director Susanna White finds a compelling solution to still let the audience get an insight into the main character’s thoughts and feelings. This also makes the film more tense by heightening everything Tessa is feeling and keeping the pace tight during key moments of the narrative.

The acting is also really good in the movie. Cynthia Erivo stands out for her empathetic and layered performance as Tessa. The family dynamics with Tessa’s mother and her brother are also very well built and one of the most heartwarming aspects of the movie. While they are not perfect, their relationship translates very well on screen and a beautiful addition to this story in how their role has been expanded in the film adaptation of Prima Facie. Daniel Ings is also really good as Julian Brooks, who is equally terrifying, frustrating, and even charismatic. It is not an easy balance to achieve but Ings manages to portray just the right version of his character at any point during the film.

The use of voiceover narration to express Tessa’s inner thoughts is not successful. This most likely stems from the original play but while on the stage this can work beautifully, the same cannot be said on the screen. When adapting the source material to a medium as visual as film where the filmmakers can zoom in to show close ups of the actors reactions and bring the audience into the characters’ inner thoughts through the cinematography or sound design, the voiceover becomes superfluous. Throughout Prima Facie, Tessa’s voice narrates emotions and feelings that the audience already knows simply by looking at the screen, making it redundant and unnecessary.

The time jump in Prima Facie does not work really well either. After Tessa reports the assault, the movie skips over the next 1107 to show us the court proceedings. While this is useful for pacing and in order to have enough time to focus on the actual trial, it does speed the events up a little bit too much. Tessa goes from one end of the court room to the other in the span of minutes, not allowing us to see that transition within the character properly. The latter would have been interesting as this is the main character arc that Tessa goes through during this story.

Overall, Prima Facie is an incredibly urgent and important movie. While it may different from the stage play in many ways, it is a valid adaptation of the story that may prompt the audience to even turn to the play after seeing this movie.

Prima Facie was screened at the BFI London Film Festival on October 11, 2026 and will be released in UK and Irish cinemas on November 13, 2026.