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Compliance
2012 90 min United States of America R 18+
★6.7
Drama, Thriller
Director: Craig Zobel
Trailers
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EN
Teaser
EN
EN
EN
Description
On a particularly busy day at a suburban Ohio fast food restaurant, manager Sandra receives a phone call from a police officer saying that an employee has stolen money from a customer.
Budget:
$270,000
US Gross:
$319,285
Worldwide:
$592,116
Starring
Ann Dowd
Actor
Dreama Walker
Actor
Pat Healy
Actor
Awards
Saturn Awards 2013
— Best Actress
Saturn Awards 2013
— Best Independent Film
Key opinion
Compliance is a polarizing psychological thriller that gains significant weight from its basis in true, documented events of extreme obedience to authority. While many viewers find the characters' behaviors implausible and the tension manufactured, others argue the film is a chilling, accurate reflection of how easily human conscience can be overridden by perceived power.
| Adaptation | The film’s central premise is grounded in documented reality, with many scenes mirroring transcripts and surveillance footage from actual hoax-call cases. | |
| Acting | Ann Dowd provides a compelling and grounded performance as the manager caught between her professional duties and an intrusive, authoritative voice. | |
| Direction | The film’s clinical and neutral direction forces viewers to confront the uncomfortable psychological mechanisms of compliance without offering easy moral resolution. | |
| Theme | The film’s effectiveness is split by the plausibility of the characters’ actions; some view the characters' gullibility as a terrifyingly accurate depiction of human nature, while others find the protagonists' lack of critical thinking to be frustratingly unrealistic. | |
| Runtime | The decision to stretch a single premise into feature length is divisive; some find it a gripping case study, whereas others feel it lacks the narrative depth to sustain its runtime, bordering on hollow or exploitative. |