A Faustian thriller that drips with dread, The Spiral is fantastic TIFF fare. It will not only appeal to the Midnight Madness crowd for which it was selected, but also countless film lovers as it plays within the genre, but also raises lots ot morality questions, and is executed seamlessly and skillfully.

Spirals can be found throughout the film, posters, weather, wildlife, shirts. It made me think of how if you go looking for coincidences everywhere, you will find them. And part of me wondered if eveything Anna (Jasmine Trinca) does, all the choices she thinks she is being manipulated into thinking she’s making of her own free will is all within her mind. That she’s seeing connections where there are none.

I’m sure that’s how her daughter, Alice (Romana Maggiora Vergano) must feel when Anna arrives in the middle of what feels like an apocalypical storm. She has come to Alice to tell her the story of her family’s life, that it is not what Alice thinks it is, that there have been dark choices made and sacrifices offered up for a comfortable life.

Anna and her family have had a comfortable life, a well off life, but when a tragedy strikes, how far will Anna go to maintain the hopes and dreams she has for her family? She and the viewer find out when a deal maker shows up. Portrayed by Valeria Bruni Tedeschi who seems clad in nothing but a trench coat, and a constantly dangling cigarettte, offers are made, accepted, and never come out as clean as Anna thinks they will.

She gets pulled deeper and deeper until it seems, as the storm rages, the whole world may be in the balance.

Split over four chapters, the story ups the dread with each section, moving towarsd an inescapable climax, which is brilliantly executed as choices are revisited.

I wasn’t sure what I was going to get when I settled into my seat for this one, but I was absolutely wowed by how much I enjoyed it. Lovingly crafted with spirals everywhere, the film completely engrosses drawing the viewer into Trinca’s performance, and we watch as her whole world comes apart over the course of a life.

This feeds into the idea of people of a certain mindset thinking they are the main character, and how they don’t really care what happens to those around them, unless they are family, and only then in the most superficial of ways. Anna loves her family, but she doesn’t know who any of them are.

And consequently, she can be manipulated every step of the way until she’s left with only one way out!

I really enjoyed this one, and recommend checking it out. The Spiral has already had its Midnight Madness screening, but it does show two more times at the festival, Tuesday night at Scotiabank, and Thursday night at the Lightbox.