Imagine driving away from your own father’s shiva to join a cult. When Rita Cooper (Carrie Coon) leaves her family, the station wagon takes her on a journey that changes her life forever.
The Liberation proves that smart people from nice families can get swept up in false promises. In this case, Rita was a Holocaust survivor with a traditional Jewish upbringing. The story is inspired by Israeli filmmaker Guy Nattiv’s grandmother. Unpacking the logic, Guy said that she missed out on a normal childhood during the Holocaust and became vulnerable.
Rita initially meets the manipulative cult leader Ricki (Lily James) while working as an assistant bank manager in New Jersey. It starts with an innocent meetup on the beach followed by a slumber party. Then it escalates into Rita taking time off work.
Ricki gives Rita motivational cassette tapes to persuade her and deeply inserts herself in Rita’s personal life. There are a few lighter moments with dancing and roller-skating, but it’s all so creepy given the context.
With dark hair, Lily James is unrecognizable. You wouldn’t know it’s the same actress who played Pamela Anderson or Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd. In this movie, she’s the woman you love to hate, especially because it’s based on a true story.
Guy Nattiv insists that The Liberation focuses on mother-daughter relationships, more so than Ricki. Rita’s daughter Ella (Bella Ramsey) is studying journalism and more critical of the cult while Jo (Odessa Young) is more impressionable and sees the appeal. You can tell it’s the 1980s because Ella makes calls on payphones.
Jo’s experience with diabetes illuminates Ricki’s strict rules about avoiding prescription medications, which are extremely problematic. Nowadays, taking pills is so commonplace that Gen Z comedians make skits about lining up for the infirmary at overnight camp like it’s a social event. But with Ricki, it was a huge source of conflict. She controlled what cult members ate, drank and wore.
Carrie Coon’s performance absolutely deserves to win acting awards and her comments in the post-screening Q&A reinforced how she thoughtfully approached the role. She highlighted the importance of community building in today’s disconnected world. I loved how she said her and her daughter knock on neighbours’ doors just to be friendly.
Unfortunately, it’s easy to build on Carrie’s comments about The Liberation’s relevance today. One Tree Hill actress Bethany Joy Lenz spent a decade in a cult. False trust doesn’t always involve a cult either. It was just revealed that Travis Kelce was a victim of a $35M Ponzi scheme.
That’s why it’s stressful to see how Ricki weaponized friendship to defraud Rita’s family. You can have business savvy and still get targeted. She escaped the propaganda-fuelled war and then ended up moving to a commune. The Liberation is a harrowing story and every scene earns its place on your watchlist.
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I previewed this film as part of the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).