Room, directed by Lenny Abrahamson, is a truthful, sensitive adaptation of Emma Donoghue’s 2010 novel, which manages to be touching and deeply affecting without ever slipping into sugary sentimentality. With a brilliant script, great acting and beautiful cinematography, this film, although at times very difficult to watch, remains optimistic in spite of its subject matter.

Room is the tale of a woman who has been abducted and held for seven years in a fortified garden shed in suburban America, and is raped nightly by her abductor, by whom she has a child. The film opens on the morning of her son Jack’s fifth birthday. Wishing to shield him from the nightmarish truth of both of their lives, the woman, known to Jack as Ma, has taught him that Room is all that exists, and this pretence allows Jack to be happy. Ma however remains desperate to escape, and concocts a plan with Jack to leave Room. But for a little boy who has never even believed in the existence of Outside, the world is an imposing and confusing place.

Brie Larson is fantastic as Ma, portraying a character who is completely devoted to giving her son the best life possible in the most difficult of circumstances. Larson also captures the stress, fear and, at times, despair of a woman imprisoned for so long. Inside Room, her wide-eyed, harried expression is a constant reminder of her nightmarish circumstances. Sean Bridgers is also excellent as her captor. He provides a harsh edge to Ma and Jack’s sometimes idyllic existence, jostling unpredictably between slimy friendliness and violent anger.

Amazingly, however, it is Jacob Tremblay who runs the show. His performance is brilliant, filled with intricate physical details, such as his sheepish habit of looking at people in Outside from under his long hair, and his first tentative, barefoot steps on an unfamiliar surface. Jack’s optimism and resilience makes the film ultimately very affirming. He is happy in Room, and though it will take some getting used to, he will be happy in Outside too.

One of the most intriguing aspects of the film is its ability to suggest that Room might perhaps be a kind of idyllic place to grow up in. Faced with circumstances that don’t make sense, and that certainly don’t match with the world he sees on TV, Jack invents an elaborate and flexible mythology to explain his life. There’s Room, and outside, there’s outer space. The things on TV are not real, the things in Room are. Jack and Ma are real: their captor is ‘maybe half’.

With the creation of these stories comes a wonderful freedom to choose the truth, and arriving in Outside, despite the countless wonderful things, is a loss of this. Jack’s reluctance to relinquish this imaginary world is brilliantly expressed when Ma tries to explain the circumstances of her abduction to Jack. Frustrated by his inability to understand the story, and frightened by its darkness and the threat it poses to his understanding of everything, Jack yells, ‘I don’t want this story!’

Ma’s reply is a tragic summary of the reality of living with knowledge of Outside: ‘This is the story you get.’

Room’s fantastic acting, powerful script and complex themes benefit from beautiful cinematography which is at times breathtaking. The first section of the film, set entirely within Room, gives an eloquent insight into Jack’s view of his world, making the most of the enclosed space and of the close ups which maximise it, which mimics his perspective as a child. Likewise the camera work in Outside focuses closely on Jack’s physical responses to his new surroundings, allowing the audience to perfectly follow his reactions even as shyness limits his dialogue. The first shot of Jack outside of Room, looking wide-eyed up at the sky, is gasp-inducing.

Room, although at times incredibly confronting and difficult to watch, is fantastic. The script is strong and masterfully brought to life by director and actors alike. Although there is no question that Room is a deeply affecting film, what shines is Jack’s resilience and optimism. In spite of all its darkness, this film is ultimately stirring and affirming.