If your child disappeared, would you intuitively recognise them ten years later? This is the heartbreaking dilemma that faces acting heavyweights Jared Harris and Juliet Stevenson as they grapple with the truth surrounding the sudden return of their runaway daughter in Virginia Gilbert’s British drama Reawakening.

Aptly named John and Mary, Harris and Stevenson play a middle-aged couple who on the face of it are reassuringly ordinary. They lead ordinary lives, do ordinary things, yet they carry an extraordinary grief - the disappearance of their daughter Claire who fled the family home aged just 14. In the ten years that have passed, the couple have never given up hope of finding her, seeing her face in every young woman, still putting out police appeals - most recently on the ten-year anniversary of her disappearance. But against type for missing-children dramas, this is not a couple at war with one another. Instead despite the years of trauma and enduring sadness John and Mary have managed to maintain a solid and loving relationship that is until the moment when the almost-unthinkable finally happens, Claire returns.  Contrite, full of remorse, open and willing to discuss where she has been for the past decade, Mary is overjoyed to have her daughter back. John, however, is not so sure. Assuming what is feasibly the voice of reason, he treats his would-be daughter with intense scepticism - testing and quizzing her, unconvinced that this is the same Claire that walked out the door ten years before. While Mary tries to rebuild a relationship with her daughter, shutting herself off from any unthinkable realities, John is determined to unearth the truth.

The idea of would-be impostors returning to the family home as long-lost children is a narrative that has seemingly gained some traction over the last 15 years. See the retelling of the case of Frederic Bourdin – both as documentary The Imposter and as drama The Chameleon;  even Ducournau’s Titane pulls on this theme in its own way, but Reawakening is unlike any of those. Writer/director Gilbert has instead created a highly British, kitchen-sink aesthetic, the understated nature of which establishes a sense of unease and tension that builds throughout the film. Needless to say, with Harris and Stevenson in charge the quality of acting is second to none as the pair deliver a sense of identifiable normality that allows the viewer an instinctive connection with John and Mary and their prevailing trauma. And while the film centres on our two main protagonists, The Crown’s Erin Doherty does an equally excellent job at portraying their focus of attention, the long-lost Claire – curiously downplayed, likeable even while retaining the enigmatic air which fuels John’s suspicion. It’s fair to say that the best scenes are those that feature the three of them.

 Reawakening is a highly intriguing story that avoids cliché and predictable narrative with its understated aesthetic and production values, not to mention an excellent, nuanced script and superlative acting. It’s a wonderful slice of British cinema adeptly handled by Gilbert who allows the narrative to unfold at a measured pace, letting the actors guide the film. A big recommend.