THIS STORY CONTAINS DISCUSSIONS OF sexual abuse.
Abby (Tuppence Middleton) is prompted by her mom's death to return to her hometown, where, as a child, she secretly witnessed a violent kidnapping. With the help of Walter (David Cronenberg), a local podcast host and Falls diver, Abby learns that the abduction was that of Alex Moulin (Colin McLeod), the young child of a pair of local magicians.
The Plot Thickens
Abby discovers and convinces the police that local bigwig Lake (Eric Johnson) molested the boy, then paid his parents to get rid of him. However, in the last scene, Abby encounters a mysterious stranger (Aaron Poole) — implied to be a grown-up Alex — who reveals that Lake didn’t harm Alex but saved his life.
The Twist
As we learn throughout the film, Abby is a pathological liar, and in the final seconds of the film, her frown begins to curl into a smile. She wanted to just sift through a game of potential truths, which is director Albert Shin’s commentary on today's "true" crime-obsessed society.
The End Note
By leaving all things ultra-modern out of his film, Shin suggests that our nostalgia for a "kinder, simpler" time is misplaced. Our abundance of access to often unverifiable information may make half-truths spread fast, and the film suggests we’re no better than Abby.