Clement Virgo’s follow up to his masterful 2022 film Brother, opens with an ominous warning that “once upon a time, young women traveled to a strange and ruthless land…” Setting the stage for his dark fairy tale, the director transports the viewer into a Afrofuturistic world that seems to bend time and space.
Co-written by Virgo and Tamara Faith Berger, a novelist and the director’s partner in real-life, the film takes place in an unnamed land that carries the xenophobia of today, as anti-immigrant posters adorn shop windows and alleys, and the police surveillance of an Orwellian future. A world where whiteness means affluence and freedom, and being a person of colour or an immigrant is grounds for servitude. It is in this seemingly timeless space, where the clothing denotes both the past and future, that the audience is introduce to Cécile (Is God Is’ Mallori Johnson), an immigrant from Africa who, along with her mother, arrives at the luxurious estate of Florence (Lauren Lee Smith) and her daughter Fanny (Angourie Rice).
Waiting to get papers that will allow for passage to the north, where freedom awaits, Cécile bides her time working for the wealthy family. Part of her duties include being a companion to Fanny, even moving into the home to be at the teen’s beck and call. Polar opposites, Cécile is confident and independent while Fanny has lived a sheltered life, the duo find themselves on parallel journeys to their own sexual awakenings.
Immediately drawn to the gardener’s handsome son, Rufus (Idrissa Sanogo), who Fanny also has eyes for, Cécile wastes no time getting to know the young man. Just as Cécile becomes infatuated with Rufus, Fanny becomes obsessed her. Culturally appropriating her new friend’s hairstyle and traditional clothing, the young heiress embarks on her quest of sexual exploration.
As both teens navigate their own journey of self-discoveries, their eyes begin to open to the fact that all is not well at Florence’s estate. Not only has the matriarch come down with an illness, but the hazy truth behind why so many of Fanny’s previous companions have mysteriously gone missing comes into focus.
Inspired by Karolyn Smardz Frost book ‘Steal Away’, which told the story of the real-life friendship between a white debutant and an enslaved girl in the Antebellum South, Virgo’s coming-of-age tale offers an innovative approach to discussing slavery, female body autonomy, xenophobia, and the bonds that transcend race and class.
The blending of genre gives the film an otherworldly feel that is hard to pin down. At times it hints to Afro-futurist works like Neptune Frost and others points it feels like a combination of other cinematic works. Even when its various influences are apparent, Steal Away manages to keep its own voice distinct. One that understands the weeds of slavery, and the economic structure it helped to create, are still prevalent in the garden of today’s inequality.
While it is great to see Virgo working in the genre space again, as he did with the 2024 Colman Domingo starring series The Madness, not all the ideas in the film meld cohesively here.
Part of the problem is that the parallel journey between the young women do not carry equal weight. Cécile, thanks to Johnson’s riveting and layered performance, is by far the more interesting of the two and is the one who demands the audience’s attention. While Rice is quite good as the sheltered and naïve Fanny but, since so much of her character’s growth is dependent on Cécile being the North Star, her moment of heroism feels unearned.
The audience is always aware that the stakes never feel as dire for the debutant as they are for her dark-skinned companion. Furthermore, since Fanny’s moments of action is dependent on Cécile being stripped of all sense of agency while in a physically weakened state, Steal Away comes close to tipping its unbalanced scale towards a white saviour narrative. Thankfully in Virgo’s skillful hands the film never fully topples in that direction.
In Virgo’s hands, even the messy messaging within the pages of the film still offers much to read into. An absorbing and thought-provoking work, Steal Away will spark plenty of discussion.
During its most assured moments, the film embraces the complexities of female desire. Just as they did with there 2005 collaboration Lie with Me, an underrated gem that was based on Berger’s book, Virgo and his screenwriter capture the sense of empowerment that comes with exploring sexuality on one’s own terms.
Couple this with the commentary on the legacy of slavery, especially in regard to today’s anti-immigrant discourse, and you have an ambitious work that marches to its own unique beat. Steal Away may not always hit the societal targets it shoots at, but it’s fascinating to observe it take aim in the first place.
