In Tell That To The Winter Sea, Josephine (Jo) and Scarlet (Scar) are meeting again for the first time in a while, as Jo is about to get married.
They were friendly at school, and, as we start to realise, as the film progresses, somewhat more.
In this emotional rollercoaster, Tell That To The Winter Sea flips up back into the past as well as showing us the present where, as Josephine tells her lifetime friend, “we’re not teenagers any more”.
Scarlet (beautifully played by Amber Anderson) is the schoolgirl everyone shuns, calling her weird and a dyke. It’s a tight and quiet performance, practised in invisibility.
Over and over Jo (a knowing performance from Greta Bellamacina) slights her, both in the present and the past, picking at old wounds and leaving her literally standing.
It’s tough to watch. It is also more than a little triggering for those who experienced these intense teenage romances and the little, nagging hurts that run through the moments of happiness.
There’s a revelation part way through the film about a professional betrayal that remains unresolved, so it isn’t just personal.
Jo lives in a lovely, rich house and seemingly has the perfect fiance, who we never meet. She rarely lets her carefully curated mask slip.
Her friends are a rag-bag of feminists who are self-absorbed but wise with it, but the structure of this film, which could just as easily been a play for the stage, is very much a two-hander.
Director Jaclyn Bethany, who co-wrote the film with Bellamacina, directs with a firm hand and a sympathetic eye, steering her main cast as they play the characters both now and then.
The teenage scenes are sharply observed and quietly devastating; those in the present demonstrate a cruelty and sadness in those who feel they have to continue down the path expected of a woman.
When the credits rolled, I had a lump in my throat and felt I had seen something really good, while recognising its peripheral characters (played by Josette Simon, Tamsin Egerton, Jessica Plummer and others) could have been developed further.
This is a powerful film that captures the confusion and celebration of first love, and I will be thinking about it for some time.
Tell That To The Winter Sea is in UK cinemas from the 31 May, and will be able to buy and rent on digital platforms from 1 Jul. It comes to Amazon Prime on 29 Jul.
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