Evoking Jean Cocteau and Ian McEwan, director Josh Appignanesi's debut feature is a simmering study in claustrophobic menace that becomes too mired in its own Talmudic preoccupations to succeed as a domestic drama. Returning from an Israeli seminary to care for her dying mother, Natalie Press persuades prodigal brother Joel Chalfen to come home, although he keeps his presence a secret from the bedridden Julia Swift. Now aggressively secular, Chalfen bitterly resents his upbringing in Hendon's Orthodox Jewish community and spits back biblical quotations as Press seeks to reclaim him. However, their close proximity reawakens the incestuous passions that had driven them apart and Press finds herself increasingly incapable of resisting Chalfen's abusive demands. Despite the odd moment of self-indulgence, Appignanesi moodily captures the shadowy nature of this oppressive suburban nightmare. He's helped by performances that are laudably intense, but occasionally lapse into histrionics that undermine the meticulously established authenticity.

Devoutly religious Ruth returns from Israel to care for her dying mother, but when she tries to bring her estranged brother David back into the fold, in accordance with her mother's wishes, the result is a startling journey into the darkest realms of sexual obsession: a forbidden game under the guise of religious law. Dark, ambiguous and distinctly adult, this study of belief and desire, set in the cloistered world of London's Orthodox Jewish community, thoughtfully explores the links between faith and violence, denial and longing.