Dark River (15)
Directed by Clio Barnard

AFTER the evocative The Arbor and The Selfish Giant, Clio Barnard returns with a searing and grim Yorkshire drama about sibling rivalry, the effects of child abuse and burying the past, juxtaposed with a rural community in decline.

Inspired by Rose Tremain's novel Trespass, it stars the outstanding Ruth Wilson as Alice, a contract sheep shearer. Following the death of her father (Sean Bean), she returns to the family farm on the Yorkshire Dales for the first time in 15 years to claim the tenancy she believes is rightfully hers.

Her older brother Joe (Mark Stanley) is furious because he has been the one managing the farm in the meantime — and running it into the ground — while taking care of their dying father.

With minimal dialogue, every nuance is expressed through body language and Stanley and Wilson both give understated yet powerhouse performances, with the latter particularly notable for her sheep-shearing skills and her portrayal of a woman still haunted by her abusive father's actions.

There's a telling moment as Alice freezes with fear on entering the family home and is unable to go up to her old bedroom. Her painful past is revealed slowly through flashbacks with a ghostlike Sean Bean delivering a short but memorable performance as her perverted father.

Joe is crippled with anger and guilt at not having protected his little sister. Both argue fiercely about the ownership and running of the farm but fail to address the elephant in the room.

It's raw, violent and terribly bleak. But writer-director Barnard manages to find beauty in the harshest and most complex of situations as she seamlessly weaves the stunning and sweeping Yorkshire landscape into a dark and brutal tale.

In the wake of God's Own Country this is another fine example of rural realism and the exploration of the marginalisation of working-class cultures.

Not for the faint-hearted, it's a strong contender for most gruelling film of the year.