India Donaldson’s feature film debut Goods was selected for both Sundance and the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes. Goods is a quiet but powerful coming-of-age story about Sam, played by Lily Collias, a 17-year-old teenager who goes camping for a few days with her father Chris and his friend Matt, played by James Le Gros and Danny McCarthy respectively.

During the trip, Chris keeps snapping at Matt, who is struggling with some difficulties at work and at home. Sam is often praised for being easy-going and laid-back, in short, she is the good girl who keeps to herself but is always there for everyone. The more she notices her father’s nasty comments towards Matt, the more she tries to ease the tension by keeping the conversation going.

This article contains important spoilers from this point on

One night, as they set up camp, the two men have a few drinks, reminisce about the past, and share a few anecdotes. Overall, the evening is awkward for Sam, as she is stuck between these two men whose friendship is clearly coming to an end. Chris eventually goes to bed, leaving Sam alone with Matt. She decides to go to bed as well, when Matt makes a comment that will make anyone’s heart sink: Matt suggests that Sam should go to bed with him to keep him warm. The situation doesn’t go any further than this, but Sam walks to her tent in shock.

Audiences will surely feel a deep sense of betrayal and shock when watching this scene, as Donaldson’s script is so subtle and realistic that no one could have seen it coming. Throughout the film, we feel like things could go wrong, and we keep looking for clues. However, the two men have barely spoken to Sam, and we never see Matt act suspiciously towards her. Nothing had prepared us for this sentence that will completely change Sam’s memories of this trip.

During an interview at the Champs-Élysées Film Festival in Paris, I asked Donaldson how such a short but powerful line came about and if she always knew it would be that line. She said, “It was always a version of that. You know, I really wanted to create that fine line between being deeply uncomfortable and hurtful, but also something that could be taken as a joke, so it shouldn’t go too far, but it shouldn’t be too gentle, you know. So I’m sure there were some variations of a word here and there, but that was always kind of the line that the whole film was built around.”

The next day, when Sam tells her father what happened, Chris makes matters worse by simply saying, “Come on,” implying that she shouldn’t make such a fuss, it will ruin the rest of the weekend. He makes it clear that he’s not going to confront Matt.

Donaldson said: “I can’t control people’s experiences, but I can tell them what my intention is. You said you felt cheated, and I appreciate that, because I hoped that in writing this character and structuring the film, I could give the audience a chance to get to know him, maybe like him, whether you like him as a person or not, at least get to know all aspects of his personality, or at least some of them.”

She added: “The reason I put that scene so late in the film is because I hope we trust him on some level. Even when you feel like it might come, you don’t want it to, and then you feel let down by him and the father.”

Sam is unable to express her feelings or defend herself against her father at this point. She has been betrayed twice within a matter of hours, including by her own father, who is unable to protect and defend her. After swimming in a waterfall, the two men fall asleep and Sam goes on a hike alone. At this moment, she finally allows herself to deal with her feelings.

Her anger and tears, incredibly expressed through Collias’ excellent acting, are also a testament to the anger she feels at herself for not finding the right words and for taking out her anger in front of her father. When she finally goes back to the car, she is soon joined by Chris and Matt. Her father gives her the keys and tells her to drive, but Sam locks herself in the car, leaving the two men hanging in their discomfort and shame.

Donaldson said: “She’s still the good kid. She left them in the woods, but I don’t think she would have abandoned them. That would have been too far for the character.”

She added: “You know, I think rebellion – or maybe that’s a strong word, but conflict, people’s ability to express themselves – comes about gradually. It’s very hard to find the right words in the moment. I always imagined that on her walk at the end, Sam thinks of a million things she wished she had said. I try not to over-phrase those things at the end, but rather to suggest a future where she might find those words. Maybe it’s tomorrow, maybe in ten years, but this experience is a step towards her voice, and her finding herself and her needs, rather than being in service to others. You know, at the end of the film, it’s just a step in that direction, and that’s certainly my hope for her.”

During the trip, Sam witnesses the breakdown of a friendship first hand and we see her checking her phone as often as possible to stay in touch with her own friends and her own people in order to escape the embarrassment, discomfort and many disappointments of this trip.

Donaldson said: “I wanted to introduce her to their social lives, I think teenagers watch that. As a teenager I didn’t have that much contact with them all the time. But kids that age today can have that sense of intimacy with their friends while at the same time feeling totally isolated and unseen by their family. So the phone is an escape, of course she doesn’t have access to it all the time, but it’s a source of comfort for her to begin with and she can see what’s going on at her friends’ homes and participate in it and wish she was there. If they go out into the woods and don’t have reception, she loses that connection. It keeps her tied to herself, her friends and her own world that she’s created for herself.”

Donaldson then explained that she was very touched by the reaction of audiences when the film premiered at festivals or during Q&A sessions. She said, “I was really touched when older men or men with daughters expressed interest in the film or told me that it resonated with them because I really tried to write fully formed, complex people with the two father figures. I expected a reaction from women, but it was less obvious to me that men would respond to it, but every time that happened, it was very beautiful to me.”