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Unlike "Happiness" (1998), which bludgeoned its audience with pathetic pedophiles and murders, "The War Zone" creeps up behind its audience and slits its throat. It's coolly gorgeous and familiar -- if cinematically formal -- and the family appears strong and healthy at first. It's easy to respond to them, which makes their secret even more devastating.

Actor Tim Roth ("Reservoir Dogs," "Rob Roy") says he was so moved by Stuart's novel that he agreed to make his debut as a director with it. With Stuart adapting and Roth set on capturing the emotional experience of reading it, almost every part of "The War Zone" ends up uncomfortably ambiguous, from the way Jessie uses her sexuality to the exact nature of her relationship with her brother. With a subject as volatile as incest, ambiguity can be pretty difficult to appreciate. And perhaps predictably, the reviews in England, where the film opened, offered mixed statements of praise and censure. Roth, who is now bringing the film to the States, met me earlier this week in the lobby of the Rihga Hotel in New York to talk about that controversy, the way families work and the tiny details that make movies breathe.

Does the controversy over the movie in England surprise you?

I was warned that the British would go for us. I was not surprised. I was more worried that they would go for Freddie and Laura, or Ray, or any of the actors. But I was fortunate that they just went for me, which is fine.

Do you think that the American reaction will be different?

My experience with the film in America has been phenomenal.

Starting with Sundance?

Yeah, that was the first public screening. And there it was, and a woman stood up in the audience and talked about it afterward and said, "That is what happened to me, and that is what it feels like."

How did you deal with that?

I was shocked, and then we talked. It was wonderful, and she did that in front of a huge audience, which I thought was remarkably courageous. It has changed my life. Americans have a way of talking about things that nobody else has.

You're partnering with Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network for the opening here, which puts you at an odd confluence of art and activism.

It's odd. I wanted to make a piece of cinema about something that makes me angry. I wanted to treat the subject in a cinematic way. We're low budget, so we're destined for the art house -- fair enough. But it fights against itself. It's not confusing to me, because I made it for me. But it is confusing. On one hand, it could be relegated to an issue movie, or whatever.

Which would be a shame.

It would be a shame. I wanted it to be a cinematic journey. And composition and lighting and what-have-you are very important to me.

Next page | "It's a sick world"