From director Susanna White and human rights lawyer turned playwright Suzie Miller comes the big-screen adaptation of Miller’s two-time Olivier Award-winning stage production Prima Facie: a socially conscious film that tackles an incredibly important crisis in the UK justice system but lacks the deft touch needed to carry the weight of its message.
The film opens with Tessa, played by Cynthia Erivo (Wicked, The Outsider), a young junior barrister who is fast making a name for herself as one of London’s most accomplished young lawyers. A graduate of Cambridge and even up for a prestigious award in her field, Tessa has a reputation for defending sexual assault cases in which she is undoubtedly successful – as she studies each witness and accuser in an almost dissociative Guy Ritchie-esque Sherlock Holmes internal monologue-styled deduction. She works with Julian (Daniel Ings), an on first-glance smooth Prince Charming type, and is daughter to June (Noma Dumezweni), a cleaner of whom Tessa hides some form of embarrassment in her working class roots from her peers. When a seemingly budding romance with Julian leads to a horrifying sexual assault, Tessa seeks legal justice – only to find her own account, credibility and character are put on trial.
There are important themes discussed in Prima Facie, from the nature of consent and how it can be freely given and rescinded, and real social issues at its heart that need urgent attention, particularly how a flawed justice system fails women year on year with little done to remedy its own failings – from accusers feeling on trial for raising their assaults, to the sheer number of sexual assault cases that fail to receive prosecution. It’s a damning indictment of the UK justice system, and is an urgent call to arms for change within this country.
That being said, the film itself plays a little too like an informative, tailored for the class-room, film than a feature of true cinematic merit, and unfortunately finds itself lacking the quality required to deliver its themes with the punch and drive it deserves. Recent social issue films and television, such as Netflix’s hit Adolescence, manage to break through and enter the public discourse in part by handling its delicate subject matter with extreme care and innovative narrative and directorial choices. The stage production similarly stood out as a solo performance, earning international acclaim for its stark, candid depiction of its subject matter. By expanding the narrative to include a wider setting, supporting characters and added backstory, Prima Facie loses much of the spark that made its original 2022 West End run so hard-hitting.
The film ultimately struggles under the weight of its themes and lacks the cinematic quality required for a truly great adaptation that can live up to, or indeed surpass, the original stage production. Cynthia Erivo provides a fine performance as Tessa, which will undoubtedly be subject to comparisons to Jodie Comer’s magnetic one-woman performance, and Noma Dumezweni carries a host of complex emotions with the few scenes she has – but there’s little room for these characters to breathe, and they are stunted by a script that feels flat, stilted by stiff dialogue and underdeveloped relationships.
A fine but flawed adaptation, Prima Facie unfortunately struggles to find its way out of the original theatre production’s shadow and, with the play still readily available to stream online, it’s hard to argue why viewers should sit down for this iteration instead.
Prima Facie is released nationwide on 13th November 2026.
Watch the trailer forPrima Faciehere:
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