Prima Facie is perfectly timed for a week of bad celebrity men

A film version of the acclaimed one-woman show, Prima Facie stars Cynthia Erivo (Picture: Sony Pictures)

It’s grimly apt that a film about a trial lawyer who becomes a victim of a sexual assault is released the same week convicted rapist and former comedian Russell Brand was sentenced to over 10 years in jail for his crimes.

It’s also the same week allegations of sexual misconduct and grooming against comedian and children’s author David Walliams also came to light, after he lost a bid to make an injunction preventing their reporting permanent.

Walliams denies any wrongdoing, but the current news cycle couldn’t make Prima Facie, starring Cynthia Erivo, any more relevant.

Adapted by Suzie Miller from her award-winning play, which took the West End and Broadway by storm in 2022 and 2023, starring Jodie Comer, this time it’s Wicked Oscar nominee Erivo powering the story – which she does with aplomb.

However, it’s not a subtle film and has struggled in comparison to the bravura stage show version, which provides extra impact with the impressively demanding one-woman format.

But it’s only fair to judge the film Prima Facie, directed by Susanna White, on what it is rather than what it isn’t. And Erivo is as exceptional as always, elevating the film around her to the best that it can be within the confines of the screen and this new muti-role version.

It’s tragic that a film about sexual assualt has been made even more timely by recent celebrity events (Picture: Nicola Dove/Sony Pictures)

It’s eerily timely to watch a lawyer who has spent her career defending those accused of crimes including rape forced to confront the limits of her faith in the justice system.

To her, ‘people are fallible and their word has to be tested – especially when someone’s freedom is at stake’. But it’s clear that this belief is about to be challenged.

Prima Facie is not what you’d seek out for enjoyment exactly, but it is something we should all be watching.

Erivo’s Tessa is a brilliant barrister born without the privilege of many of her colleagues – the ‘thoroughbreds’ – as the daughter of a cleaner single mother, although this is something she strives to avoid mentioning.

Erivo plays brilliant barrister Tessa, whose faith in the criminal justice system is shaken (Picture: Sony Pictures)

She’s the local Essex girl done good, who got all the way to Cambridge and has little patience for anyone who underestimates her. In court, she is ruthless and confronts her opposition like a shark circling the waters ahead of her strike.

To her, the rival counsel is a ‘f***ing idiot’. As I said, not subtle.

Among her professional success though, she’s also enjoying the flirty beginnings of something with her colleague Julian (Daniel Ings, The Gentlemen), another star barrister considered a ‘good guy’ and ‘the whole package’ by everyone else.

But one night, their relationship takes a dark turn. Tessa finds her situation completely reversed as she starts to experience law and order from the perspective of someone who has been subjected to sexual assault, and all the barriers in place.

The film deals with painful nuances of perspective and issues around consent (Picture: Nicola Dove/Sony Pictures) Prima Facie is not perfect but it’s essential viewing (Picture: Nicola Dove/Sony Pictures)

Prima Facie is heavy-handed in parts, but engrossing throughout, exposing the shortcomings of the criminal justice system, the painful nuances of perspective and issues around consent – as well as the social fallout and emotional devastation.

The last act of the film feels more fumbled in its execution, with Erivo’s climactic final courtroom monologue the only part of her performance that doesn’t ring true, feeling unrealistically forced.

But Prima Facie is uncomfortable, as it’s supposed to be, and emotional – albeit sometimes clunky – viewing as a social justice drama.

It’s not perfect, but it’s necessary – especially in these current times – and Erivo’s power and prowess is to be admired.

Prima Facie is in UK and Irish cinemas from today.

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