The Unforgivable (2021)
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A woman released from prison after twenty years for a crime she committed to protect her sister attempts to reunite with her.
The story
Ruth Slater is released from prison after serving twenty years for the death of a sheriff who attempted to evict her and her young sister, Katie. Now free, Ruth takes on jobs and begins a determined search to find and reunite with her estranged sister. However, the path to reconciliation is complicated by the fact that Katie was raised by an adoptive family who do not know of Ruth's existence. As Ruth navigates her new life, she faces the emotional weight of her past while dealing with the looming threat of a man seeking revenge for the sheriff's death.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Ruth Slater is released from prison after serving twenty years for the death of a sheriff who tried to evict her and her sister, Katie. Ruth begins a search for Katie, who was raised by an adoptive family in Seattle and has no conscious memory of Ruth. Meanwhile, Keith, the son of the deceased sheriff, stalks Ruth to seek revenge. Ruth meets a lawyer, John, who helps her investigate Katie's whereabouts. She eventually meets Katie's adoptive parents, who reveal they have hidden Ruth's existence from Katie. A younger sister, Emily, finds Ruth's letters and arranges a meeting. It is revealed through flashbacks that Katie actually fired the fatal shot, but Ruth took the blame to protect her. Amidst the tension, Keith's brother Steve, who had been trying to stop Keith's revenge, becomes enraged after a domestic dispute and kidnaps Emily, mistaking her for Katie. At a recital where Emily is performing, Ruth and Liz (John's wife) arrive. Steve confronts Ruth, but he cannot go through with the murder when she expresses remorse. Ruth gives herself up to the police, and Steve is arrested. In the end, Ruth is released and finally meets Katie, and the two sisters embrace.
- First release year
- 2021
- Runtime (minutes)
- 112
- Production countries
- United States; United Kingdom
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Nora Fingscheidt
- Writers
- Peter Craig · writer; Hillary Seitz · writer; Courtenay Miles · writer
- Cast and characters
- Sandra Bullock · Ruth Slater; Vincent D'Onofrio; Jon Bernthal; Richard Thomas; Linda Emond; Aisling Franciosi; Rob Morgan; Viola Davis
- Genres
- psychological drama
- Themes
- sisterhood; sacrifice; redemption
- Tone and mood
- grim; tense
- Setting
- Snohomish and Seattle, Washington
- Premise and plot tags
- prison release; family reunion; revenge plot
- Source material / true-story basis
- 2009 British miniseries Unforgiven
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews from critics.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 40% · scale: percentage · review count: 90; Metacritic · score: 41 · scale: 100 · review count: 20
- Production trivia
- The film was one of the first Netflix projects to shoot at the Canadian Motion Picture Park Studios in Burnaby.; The film was the most-streamed film on Netflix's charts for English-language films during its first week of release.; The film was the most-streamed film in the United States according to TV Time.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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