Written and directed by Jordan Scott (daughter of acclaimed director Ridley Scott), A Sacrifice presents the compelling whisper of an idea. How do people fall under the fray of dangerous ideology, blindly willing to give all of themselves into whatever wayward cause has popped up next? Whatever answers Scott manages to wring out from the flimsy premise fail to go beyond surface-level takeaways, content to rest on empty characters and obvious twists instead of embracing the supposed “thrilling” elements. Criminally wasting both Sadie Sink and Eric Bana, A Sacrifice lacks nuance or even a modicum of subtlety in its depiction of a theoretically disturbing suicide cult.
Social psychologist Ben (Bana) has been helping a mysterious new patient, convinced the world around her is disintegrating. His estranged daughter, Mazzy (Sink), flies in from California as a sort of punishment to stay with him for awhile, but Ben becomes distracted when a mass cyanide suicide sparks his attention. Ben’s casual flirtation with forensics expert, Nina (Sylvia Hoeks), also gets in the way. At the same time, Mazzy starts a fling with a cute European, Martin (Jonas Dassler), that she met on the way over. To no one’s surprise, Martin may be bad news, and the research into cults that Ben immerses himself in seems to be right at his own backdoor.
A Sacrifice jumps from one obvious scenario to the next, attempting to paint an idea of “groupthink” and eliminating the self all too obviously. Instead of giving depth to either Mazzy or Ben, Scott’s script keeps them apart for too long, marking little difference from when Mazzy arrives. A fractured relationship that has already been fractured before Mazzy’s downward spiral just comes across as misguided—little fluctuation in the relationship between child and parent can be tangibly felt. In fact, Ben pretty much takes zero notice of Mazzy’s behavior and constant friend “sleepovers” until the final fifteen minutes of the film. This leaves so little time to focus on father or daughter that it becomes nigh impossible to actually care even an iota about either of them.
Martin receives more texture than either of our leads in a surprising and perhaps accidental side story. We get to see a bit of his home life, and how a tragedy sends him over the edge. Even here, the plummeting of Martin’s character does not seem gradual. He was already in a weird cult—with the off-putting Hilma (Sophie Rois) at the helm—before aforementioned tragedy. This makes his transition from nice guy to brainwashed comrade less of a leap and more of a normal step. Certainly, it seems to almost dodge the film’s general takeaways.
For presenting a simple story, Scott certainly attempts to throw whatever can stick at the viewer in the final act. Reserving all tension for the conclusion makes the lead up suffocating in its slowness. Knowing what will come, we await Mazzy to fall in with the wrong crowd, and for Ben to try to save her from harm’s way. Why would any of that be surprising? A Sacrifice seems to position the poisoning of its innocents as a central throughline. Why can’t sacrifice be redemption? Eventually, one would hope for some answers, such as the cult’s ultimate endgame, or a satisfying cathartic crescendo to the “build” of its closing minutes. Scott refuses even the smallest of gestures, resulting in a movie that ends up as empty and meaningless as Hilma’s questionable ideology. At least Bana and Sink make for a convincing father/daughter unit—too bad about the rest.
Will A Sacrifice be enough to shed all sense of self? Find out exclusively in theaters on Friday, June 28th.
