Writer-director Sofia Takal once again turns her gaze to her craft—and all the people and their perversions within it—in another of her typically gripping thrillers, Act One. The quiet, observant Ella Beattie plays a naive but not entirely naive high school student and aspiring actress who, after being passed over for a role in a school play, falls for a scheming acting teacher (Ari Greiner). What makes the art and craft of acting such fertile ground for exploration is that the work is as much about what you do as it is about who you are, where already blurred boundaries become even more disturbingly blurred.
Hannah (Beatty) is supposedly the best student in her class, but is virtually invisible to her peers in the school hallways, so her passion for acting becomes a way for her to escape into another world. Her mother (Elizabeth Reaser) is largely uninterested in Hannah's true dreams and barely notices when her daughter enrolls in local classes at Act One Studios. Melanie (Grainor) Grainer immediately takes a special interest in the 17-year-old and the "light" that lies within her—just one of many statements that sparkle with an esoteric, New Age undertone quite appropriate for a cult leader.
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What begins as a typical Meisner curriculum, involving using one's own inner experience to project a deeper truth into an imaginary setting, unravels into something far more sinister. Our senses shift instantly when Hannah begins to bond with one of her classmates from the first act, Henry (Nate Mann), a handsome and slightly older man. Hannah begins failing tests, skipping classes, and becoming completely immersed in Melanie's world and the professor's interest in her. A retreat, preceded by Hannah's mother demanding to know where her teenage daughter will sleep, takes a psychosexual turn, involving Hannah, Henry, and Melanie—and featuring a disturbingly blocked sexual encounter that seems straight out of the 1996 coming-of-age thriller Fear. And then, after the retreat, another, even more disgusting one follows.
Hannah's coming-of-age becomes even more confusing as she falls deeper into Melanie's trance, raising the question of what this woman's true intentions are—is she corrupting Hannah? Or is she some kind of pedophile? Takal leaves plenty of possibilities open in "Act One," which plays like a dark psychological drama until more traditional thriller elements jolt the film out of its established reality—which, of course, isn't the same as the real world, but the unexpected plot twist involving a kidnapping pushes the boundaries of plausibility regarding the extent of Melanie's brainwashing. to everyone to his followers, and not just Hannah.
The most powerful moments of "Act One" make you question whether the events are real or a fabrication of Melanie's own making. (The show she's training her students for? The play she wrote, of course.) Tavi Gevinson makes a brief but disturbing appearance as Gracie, one of Melanie's former students who has found some success in the acting profession. Melanie picks Hannah up from school to take her to Gracie's matinee, and when they head to Gracie's dressing room afterward, a chilling scene unfolds that reveals Hannah to be one of the young women Melanie has been psyching out. "Are you her new protégé?" Gracie asks Hannah.
Hannah remains frustratingly oblivious to the warning signs lurking throughout, but the film's rhythmic pacing, precise composition, and editing make us realize she's almost too swayed by Melanie. Beatty, the daughter of Warren and Annette Bening, has few acting credits, but "First Act" establishes the young actress as a serious talent. Meanwhile, Greiner is so charismatic and exudes such gravitas that, heck, even we begin to feel captivated. While the premise is more satisfying than a more traditionally constructed conclusion, "Takal" ends with a stunning scene that turns the film on its head. Hannah may have found her truth, but in the process, she literally lost herself.
Rating: B+
Act One premiered at the 2026 Tribeca Film Festival and is currently seeking a U.S. distributor.
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