The Liberation Review: Carrie Coon At Her Best

In The Liberation, Carrie Coon delivers a phenomenal performance as a desolate mother eager for the new life that’s been presented to her.

Our central character is Rita (Carrie Coon, of The White Lotus), a mother who is plagued by her memories of surviving the holocaust. Her 9-to-5 bank job does her no favours, slumping it at her desk all day, and returning home to a family she loves but that she has to do everything for. 

One day, an alluring customer finds herself at Rita’s bank to open a new account. Ricki (Lily James, of The Iron Claw) takes a liking to Rita, inviting her out to spend the night with her and her friends at the beach. She declines as it’s against policy, but finds herself there anyway, realising it will get her a night off of her usual mother duties at home. Her infatuation with Ricki develops quickly, and she finds herself wanting to spend so much time with her that she starts to take time off of work. Before she knows it, Rita is in Ricki’s inner circle.

We flash between Rita’s stage of getting to know Ricki and her eventual demise of joining a cult that Ricki is the leader of. Rita, as anyone in these situations, is blissfully unaware. She thinks that it’s a friendship, one that she’s longed for her whole life. When we switch to present day, Rita’s two daughters Ella (Bella Ramsey, of The Last of Us) and Jo (Odessa Young, of Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere) are just coming to visit her at the compound she now resides in, away from all civilization. The two plan to take her home, just for a week, but Ricki insists on them staying there instead, not allowing Rita to leave. 

Carrie Coon is nothing short of spectacular as Rita. It’s her, along with a strikingly eerie performance from Lily James, that make the film feel whole. The myriad of supporting roles, particularly from Ramsey and Young, aid The Liberation into being effective. Without this strong female cast it wouldn’t work. It’s a rare occasion that everyone’s accents work, too, especially with James, Ramsey and Young not being American. 

Whilst The Liberation deals with intense subject matters, the slow pace of it all leaves it feeling less potent of a film than it could be. It ultimately loses momentum, switching between a present day timeline and flashbacks of the past. The narrative would have worked better staying in a chronological order for Rita’s life to unravel rather than knowing early on about the cult. It’s still an overwhelmingly weighty film by the end, but tension is never felt. 

Cinematographers Tudor Vladimir Panduru (Fjord) and Fabian Gamper (Sound of Falling) are successful at creating a haunting environment, both here in The Liberation and in each of their previous features. Whether it be the unearthly feel of the winding roads driving out to the middle of nowhere, or the claustrophobic scenes in Ricki’s apartment. Both DoP’s have a knack for that kind of milieu, especially the one that surrounds Rita. 

The Liberation proves itself with incredible performances across the board and a mostly strong script. Maybe the time jumps don’t work and the pacing is off, but to see Carrie Coon at her best makes this complex, often unnerving feature worth it. 

The Liberation was screened at the BFI London Film Festival on October 10-11, 2026. The film will be released in U.S. theaters on January 8, 2027.