A woman (Sydney Sweeney) returns home from work to find a pair of FBI special agents (‎Marchánt Davis and Josh Hamilton) waiting for her. They want to ask her some questions, and carry warrants to search her house, car, and smartphone. Everything they say in the subsequent interview actually happened.

Reality is a tightly-wound and enormously stressful drama, directed by Tina Satter and produced by HBO Films. It is not simply inspired by a true story: Satter takes the transcript of a real-life FBI interrogation and adapts it line-for-line on the screen. The subject is Reality Winner (her actual name), an Air Force veteran turned NSA translator who in 2017 was arrested for unauthorised release of secret government documents to the media. Precisely what Winner did, and the consequences she faced, are a matter of public record, but Reality honestly makes a more gripping experience if you let the film slowly spoon-feed it out. If you were to categorise the film you would shelve it with drama , but even so the way her misadventure plays out is tenser than most thrillers.

By directly translating the transcript to the screenplay, Satter generates something that is strikingly realistic. People stumble over their words, or momentarily misspeak. Pauses and hesitates seem to speak volumes. The two FBI agents, named Taylor (Davis) and Garrick (Hamilton), are polite, calm, and oddly friendly – which makes them seem terrifying. This veneer of civility is punctured every time Winner goes to touch a phone she can no longer handle, or rushes to a door to keep a cat inside the house. Much of the narrative is balanced in this insidious environment: everything is calm and collected, until momentarily it isn’t. There is also an unavoidable gender-based element. Winner is the only woman in her house as it slowly fills with anonymous Federal agents conducting a hugely invasive search of her possessions. Everyone says there is nothing to fear, but everything they do indicates the opposite. If you are anything like me, you are going to watch Reality screaming for its protagonist to call a lawyer.

It is the acting that cements the film’s appeal. Davis and Hamilton play superficial politeness lightly, but with a constant undercurrent of tension. Momentary glances between them speak volumes. As Winner, Sweeney performs like a proverbial onion, peeling back layers of uncertainty and ambiguity throughout. Has she done something wrong? Does she know it if she did? The complete film is only 82 minutes long, but it backs in such a build-up that it honestly would not work were it much longer.

Tina Satter is an accomplished playwright and director; this is her first feature film. It is a tremendous debut in the medium: gripping, well-played, and with something genuinely interesting – and provocative – to say.

Reality was recently released in Australia on DVD by Madman Entertainment. Click here for more information. It is also available to rent or buy online via Microsoft, Amazon, Fetch, and Apple TV.