A stunningly mundane film about what happens when someone you love is accused of something horrible. In The Good Sister, Rose is very close with her brother, Sam. When sharing a home, Sam brings a woman over one night when Rose is home, and later the woman accuses Sam of rape. As Rose struggles to accept this accusation against her brother, she also is unable to look past it, as a woman herself. When asked to testify her own experience from that night, her alliances are questioned as she too questions who she believes.

Embracing the more monotonous times of life, and portraying Rose’s dilemma through a lens of realism, we watch a moral dilemma play out on screen through two very real characters. Through their story, we see ourselves reflected in those on screen, faced with decisions that, unfortunately, may be all too familiar to many viewers. As Rose is first faced with the accusation against her brother who, to her, would never do anything to hurt anyone, she is immediately defensive of him. It asks us how we would react if someone close to us had these kinds of allegations against them.

As Rose’s understanding of the situation changes, and her role in the woman’s testimony against her brother shifts, we too see our own alliances shifting. Sam, the older brother we have been watching all this time, the one so sweet to his sister and his family, could he have done this? But what reason do we have to not trust the other woman at all. This film is very firm in its portrayal of the whole situation, simply presenting information as Rose receives it, never blinded by any other character’s opinions. It grows its tension throughout as it builds its uncertain plot with every beat, leaving us with only the things Rose has experienced to make up our mind about what is true.

The performances here are subtle. There are no real “classic” blow-up or fight scenes that we have often become customary to stories like these. A lot of what it has to say about Rose and her dilemma come in the smaller moments. The moments when she is alone, able to ponder the situation away from all the outside noise. Or when she seeks out the woman who made the accusations herself, and how much is communicated in the moments between the two.

The use of the more mundane, in the everyday moments makes this film feel so familiar to us. It is incredibly unfortunate that dilemmas similar to Rose’s are so familiar. These are not sensational stories. We have all experienced Rose’s disbelief, whether it was about accusations towards someone we know and love, or someone we see on our screens or televisions after feeling like we know them and the choices they would make. How shattering it is, in the every day moments, as we slowly realize that these people are not who we thought they were. That for someone like Rose, her own brother could be the monster responsible for another girl’s devastating experience.

It is unique, too, how the film takes the accusation against Sam one step further. Rather than just asking Rose to make a decision whether she believes her brother or the woman who is accusing him of rape, it asks her, will you testify against your brother? Being the only other person to be able to confirm the woman’s story, but also the only person with the power to make it all go away, she is placed in another level of moral dilemma that also forces us to ask where we each personally draw a line between supporting women and standing up for them, and why lines between must exist at all.

In this beautifully real portrayal of a moral dilemma that is so terribly familiar to so many of us, The Good Sister shows us this story from the point of view of one close sibling pair, and what happens when one is accused of rape and the other has the power to prove the statement to be worthy or not of further investigation. Embracing the mundane and the moments in between, The Good Sister is a breathtaking debut from director Sarah Miro Fischer that will linger long after the credits roll.

The Good Sister was screened at the 2025 Berlin International Film Festival.