Dark River 2018

Alice Bell is a sheep shearer on a rural farm who gets along well with her coworkers. When Richard Bell dies, he had told her she would inherit his tenancy, so she quits to honor that promise. Returning to the farm, she is haunted by vivid flashbacks of her father entering her bedroom and holding her in bed.

Back at the farm, her brother, Joe Bell, is absent at first. He returns and is angry at her for turning up after their father’s death and after fifteen years apart, but over time he warms to her—only to flare up again when he discovers she has applied to take over the tenancy.

The land agent hints that her tenancy could be approved if she repairs the neglect left by her father and brother. Her efforts to repair the land and kill rats meet resistance from Joe, who worries the work would upset the farm’s delicate ecosystem (for example, rats sharing the barn with fledglings). Reluctantly they begin to collaborate, though Joe resents Alice’s methods. She even trains the dog Joe bought but never trained.

A landowner privately reveals to Joe that farms are no longer profitable and that tenants who accept a buyout will receive £100,000 in cash. Knowing Alice would refuse, the man suggests that if Joe were granted the tenancy, he could evict her and keep the money. Joe goes along with the plan and tells Alice that if he gets the tenancy, he will evict her. Alice is shocked, as she intended to keep Joe on if she won.

Feeling guilt, Joe vandalizes Alice’s car in a drunken rage, trying to set it on fire. Alice has him arrested. While Joe is away, she fumigates the house and has a flashback of her father’s jealous rage after Joe told him that Alice had a boyfriend.

Joe is placed on probation and returns, but he is ultimately awarded the tenancy. Alice discovers Joe plans to sell all the sheep and tries to stop him. In the middle of their dispute, Joe shoves Alice and she hits her head. He brings her back to their childhood room to recover.

When Alice wakes, they discuss the sexual abuse they endured at the hands of their father for the first time. Joe asks why she would sometimes go to their father’s room, and she reveals that waiting for him to rape her was the worst part. He has no answer for why he never intervened. Their conversation coincides with Alice’s eviction; Joe, ashamed, confesses to being bought out.

In the midst of the argument, a loose dog attacks and kills a sheep. Alice chases the dog with a gun, experiences a PTSD flashback, and accidentally shoots and kills their neighbour. Wracked with guilt, she collapses beside the body, while Joe turns himself in, claiming that he committed the murder.

Later, Alice visits Joe in prison, bringing a piece of a plant he had mentioned. They sit in silence until she asks if she can come again, and he says yes.