What is the film about?
In Faith, Gina (Erin Doherty) is the loving mom to Jamie (Smylie Bradwell), a typical kid who loves gaming. Gina is a no-nonsense kind of person, but it’s obvious that Jamie is her whole world.
And then one day, Gina happens upon Michael (James McAvoy). Michael is sagely and aloof, but very kind. He seems to say and ask all the right things. He’s not scared off—like many people are—by a single mom. But something is not quite right with Michael.
Written and directed by Paul Andrew Williams, Faith is an exploration of love, grief, and faith.
What did the film do well?
I was unsure about watching Faith. I’ll get into more of why later. But equally I was intrigued. The story is set in a British town, and everything about the film is so normal and natural.
Gina works in a sweet factory. She and her colleague converse and joke. She hires a babysitter when she wants to attend pub trivia with her friends. Everyone knows everyone and where they are because it’s a small town. That’s both good and bad. I enjoyed the normalcy of the film.
Far too often, especially with Hollywood films, everyone’s either a superstar/genius/something unbelievable or they’re a writer. In Faith, Gina has a normal, real job.
That realism is at the core of Faith. It is, for the most part, a representation of familial love and finding connection. Mostly, though, it is a raw exploration of grief.
Despite my pathetic seat—which skewed the angle of the screen and darkened half of it—I was still enthralled by the performances. Doherty is very natural, but the rawness she displays later on was palpable.
McAvoy really fascinated me in Faith. This is the most restrained I’ve seen him, and yet he carries an air of mystery sans dialogue with his posture and the intensity of his gaze. Much of the uncertainty that Faith hints at about Michael is evident because of McAvoy.
What could have been improved?
The extremely realistic and grounded story comes to a grinding halt in the last half hour. The signs are there that everything isn’t as it seems in this world, but a truly affecting story of grief and the arduous journey of healing from it could have easily been told. Instead, the film pivots to a faith-based solution. The film is called Faith, so I was under no allusions that something spiritual wasn’t in the offing. But it shouldn’t have come at the cost of real closure—or the lack thereof.
This is always my problem with stories with faith at their core. Not everyone believes in religion, Gods or spirituality. There are real and tangible methods to deal with our problems. Can they fix them? No. Can they really give us all our hearts desires? Also no. But we live in reality and cope in real ways.
Maybe that’s the wrong mindset to take into a film like Faith. But therapy exists, man. Shouldn’t that be at least offered as an option irrespective of the spiritual core of the story?
Final thoughts
Faith is riveting from the start with a grounded story and captivating performances. But that all goes out the window when it takes its theme too far and leaves realism behind.
Stay tuned for more reviews from the Toronto International Film Festival 2026.
