"Our Last Resort" | Reviewed by Chris Stuckenschneider

Surviving in a cult, and the lasting damage to the psyche that results from mind games, torture, and sexual abuse affect the main characters in “Our Last Resort,” an intriguing thriller by Clémence Michallon that’s so much more than a simple who-dun-it.

A sinewy bond connects Frida and Gabriel, who consider themselves brother and sister after being born into a cult overseen by Émil, a devious Frenchman with total control over his followers, who must sacrifice themselves to the day-to-day existence he’s established.

In the cult, women are referred to as the “mothers,” at age 18 becoming prey to Émile’s sexual desires. Frida suffers this horrific fate, yet holds a trusted place with Émil, who allows her to proof read his work and have access to his office. It’s this access that ultimately provides a door to the “outside” world for Frida and Garbriel, when staying in the camp becomes increasingly perilous for them. Their escape plan isn’t without repercussions that haunt their lives ever after.

With no identification, little money or a place to live, Gabriel and Frida do what’s necessary to survive in the “real world,” keeping their cult experiences a secret. Eventually, after a speedy courtship, Gabriel marries Annie, a lovely young woman Frida approves of, and ultimately befriends. The threesome is always together, but with no warning Annie disappears and Gabriel is suspect in her murder. Though Gabriel and Annie were obviously in love, there were cracks in their marriage because of Gabriel’s drinking—a problem that Annie shares with Frida. Eventually Gabriel is cleared in his wife’s murder, but the killer remains a mystery.

Fifteen years later, on the 10th anniversary of Annie’s death, Gabriel and Frida meet at a remote hotel in a desert resort in Escalante, Utah, to make plans for a documentary. Shortly after they check in, Frida hears the couple in a neighboring suite arguing—an older man and his trophy wife—the insults he lobs at his wife becoming increasingly violent. When the wife is found murdered in the desert, Gabriel is once again suspect in the crime, a turn of events that shocks Frida. She becomes determined to discover who the real killer is and clear Gabriel, who she loves dearly, their long history a connection that time and circumstance can’t erase.

Though plot twists abound in “Our Last Resort” they aren’t unwarranted or far-fetched making this complicated thriller a cut above more mundane mysteries. Frida and Gabriel’s horrendous existence in the cult creates empathy for the pair, who have struggled to survive the unthinkable. Once they are free and trying to adapt, a surprise comes to light surrounding their escape. Cast into a world they know little about, they support one another, yet neither seems to be able to put their past to rest.

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