Rent The Accidental

Synopsis

A British family, the Smarts, on summer vacation, find their domestic fa'ade irreparably ruffled by the appearance of a charismatic woman, Amber, who insinuates herself into their lives, hearts, and minds. In THE ACCIDENTAL, as in her eerie and brilliant HOTEL WORLD, Ali Smith proves to be a master of assuming the voices of myriad characters and seeing the world through their biased eyes. Employing a delightfully subjective third-person perspective, Smith opens up the inner-workings of the Smart family: the didactic and philandering father, the anxious and self-denying mother, and the two marvelously off-kilter kids. All of them seem drawn to and oddly deluded by Amber, and, at times, Smith renders Amber's actions from multiple viewpoints in a style reminiscent of RASHOMON. Her treatment of the characters is like a brilliant autopsy: precise, unsettling, and, in the end, a revelation.

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