Written and directed by Virginia Gilbert, Reawakening tells the story of a situation no parent wants to be in. Parents are trapped in emotional limbo after their teenage daughter vanishes without a trace. For John (Jared Harris) and Mary (Juliet Stevenson), it’s been ten years since their daughter, Clare, went missing. Clare ran away from home at fourteen and vanished without a trace as she struggled with drugs and petty crimes. Feeling guilty for his angry reactions to her drug use, John never stopped searching, continuing to follow leads, make news appearances, and relive the tortured memories of Clare and the reason she left. John refuses to give up, contacting the police and a private investigator with fresh clues. He also questions the troubled teens he meets along the way.
Meanwhile, Mary tries to find her own way through her loss, but she cannot escape the ongoing nightmares of Clare. Then one evening, John comes home to find Mary in shock and disbelief. She tells him that Clare has returned and is in the kitchen. The young woman introduces herself as Clare (Erin Doherty). She certainly fits Clare’s description: 24-years-old, marked by years of hardship and drug addiction. Mary embraces her immediately, while John reacts with suspicion and fear. He studies her behavior, the accuracy of her stories, and her mannerisms. Visibly shaken, John bolts, convinced that this is not Clare.
As Clare explains how she survived on her own, taking responsibility for her past choices and her addiction, the tension inside the household grows. Mary accepts outright that this is Clare, desperate to believe her family has been restored. John, however, becomes increasingly isolated as he continues to search for the real Clare. He ultimately demands that this woman submit to a DNA test.
“Parents are trapped in emotional limbo after their teenage daughter vanishes without a trace.”
As a parent of a daughter roughly the same age as Clare when she ran away, Reawakening is a haunting story. It can come across as a social-issue box-checker, where the story moves through a long list of emotions and actions revolving around a missing child. Virginia Gilbert certainly does that, but her focus remains squarely on the emotional lives of John and Mary.
This film feels real, even as it imagines what it would be like for parents living this nightmare. Jared Harris and Juliet Stevenson are absolutely brilliant as the steadfast mother and father. They are striving for authenticity, not merely acting. All of the emotions are rooted in silence and isolation, and for John, his identity has become that of a father with a missing daughter. When a moment of hope comes his way, he can’t embrace it. There is also an intense anger when he comes face-to-face with Clare.
Back to the box-checking: some moments truly stand out, as Reawakening refuses to view the parents through rose-colored glasses. When John speaks to a group of teens, he is confronted by one (Oluwaseyi Adeyanju), who outright suggests that maybe Clare left because of him and doesn’t want to be found. She then goes on to accuse him of being an abuser.
Virginia Gilbert’s Reawakening ends on a brutal yet honest note, refusing to hand out easy answers or emotional closure. It’s not clean, but it’s meant to be an unflinching reality check.
"…an unflinching reality check."
