MOVIE · 2007

An American Crime

CrimeDramaHorror98 min

In 1960s Indiana, suburban housewife Gertrude Baniszewski keeps teenager Sylvia Likens locked in the basement of her home, drawing on a notorious true case. Catherine Keener is Gertrude, outwardly ordinary and firmly in control of the household; Sylvia Likens (Elliot Page) is the girl trapped at the center of that control. The film keeps close to the rooms of the house and the routines around it — church, television, family arguments, the basement itself — as abuse hides behind the appearance of everyday domestic life.