Taboo: Family Secrets

This is a rich, atmospheric, and well acted drama. The story is straight forward: a formerly troubled woman (Amanda, played with honesty and humility by Deborah Twiss) marries into a family under sad circumstances, tries to fit in but encounters resistance and resentment, becomes estranged from her husband (Costas Mandylor, deep into an affair of his own), and then romantically involved with her step son (Staffan Edenholm), all the while troubled by the seemingly hostile behavior of her step daughter (Ashley Westover in one of the film's strongest performances).

Under another writer/director this could easily become a sexual romp through the "oops" field, but Deborah Twiss has cleverly mixed sensuality with very real characters who try very hard to navigate their mixed feelings about this would-be replacement mother, and their own sense of loss, need, and trust. The appearance of Amanda's troubled but somehow re-assuring ex-husband Russ Camarda) adds an interesting background to Amanda's predicament.

Twiss, Mandylor, Edenholm, and especially Westover and Camarda (as Amanda's lurking ex-husband), give rich and believable performances. The film kept me guessing and interested-not a very easy thing to do.