Prima Facie

While White's film is not exactly groundbreaking, her thoughtful approach and execution still make it well worth the watch and the praise.

The film mistakes the righteousness of its argument for the persuasiveness of its drama. Its message is urgent, its lead performance is memorable, and yet the movie around both is too ungainly, too obvious, and too strained to earn the power it plainly wants.

Prima Facie relies heavily on Erivo’s charismatic performance and the Londoner is brilliant as this complicated character, effectively conveying the thrill of having power and then the trauma of losing it entirely.

As you’d expect, Erivo is game and committed. She is very, very good. Never over-dramatizing the proceedings and giving the big courtroom speech you’ll see coming a mile away the gutso it needs. But she doesn’t necessarily elevate the material either (nor should she have to).

White does as much as she can to make Prima Facie cinematic, but she’s not an inherently inventive filmmaker. Both she and Erivo ultimately run up against the limitations of the material, which ultimately treats Tessa not as a person but as a vehicle for certain themes.

The social justice courtroom drama from director Susanna White is an underwhelmingly flat message picture, whose efforts to raise awareness about sexual assault against women is stymied by on-the-nose creative choices and writerly missteps.

As a message, Prima Facie is still a howl of rage and a plea for change. But as a film it is a near-total muddle, from the clunky recurring voiceover to the cringey, obvious visuals and a preachy ending, with only some stunning supporting performances and a brief, powerful middle section to redeem it.