The Unspeakable Act

The act that is unspeakable is the consummation of a forbidden love: that between 17-year-old Jackie and her elder brother Matthew, who grow up in a wealthy, intellectual, one-parent family in Brooklyn. A one-sided love, because while Matthew loves her, he is not sexually interested in his sister. That causes problems when he goes off to study and gets girlfriends. Jackie finds herself in a crisis and then on the sofa of a psychiatrist, where she analyses her romantic desires and the inevitable onset of maturity. She also makes half-hearted attempts to form relationships with boys other than her brother.
In a voice-over, we follow closely the inner struggles of Jackie, who is played with great care and eye for detail by the newcomer Tallie Medel, directed by former film critic Dan Sallitt in what is already his third feature.