Plot: Sarah (Robin Wright) and Michael (Jason Patric) are lovers. She is loving and playful and has many actor friends. He has no one but her, and his jealousy. When he leaves her, she is unable to forget him. He becomes her sickness, her obsession…, the one that still have the power to bestir her.

Director: Erin Dignam

Writing Credits: Erin Dignam

Cast: Robin Wright, Jason Patric, Rae Dawn Chong,  Barry Primus, Christine Harnos, Rosalind Chao and David Duchovny.

Music by: Harold Budd

Genre: Drama

Budget: $800,000

Filming Dates: 14 December 1987 – January 1988

Filming Locations: Mendocino, California, USA

Release Date: January 21, 1990 (Sundance Film Festival) | September 19, 1991 (USA Video Premiere)

MPAA Rating: R

Runtime: 103 minutes

DENIAL is a deeply affecting psychological study of Sarah (Robin Wright), affectionately called Loon by her friends and imprisoned in a wounded memory.

For Loon escape provides no liberation. Having left her home and a tumultuous relationship with Michael (Jason Patric), she finds a haven in the borne of Jay (Barry Primus) and his daughter Sid (Christine Harnos).

However, the memories of her college years with Michael cling to her, reminding her that the woman she is, and the woman she thought she wanted to be, have both been shaped by him.

When a former classmate, Julie (Rae Dawn Chong), reenters her life, she more than ever feels the anguish of memory. However, through Julie’s films of their college days, Loon begins to learn that the past need not hold her.

Robin Wright as Sarah/Loon

Sarah/Loon (Robin Wright) is a passionate, impulsive, and emotionally intense woman. Her personality is a mix of sensitivity and recklessness, making her both vibrant and magnetic, yet also chaotic and self-destructive.

Sarah lives with fierce intensity, loving with all her heart and surrendering completely to her emotions.

Sarah is spontaneous and free-spirited, but that same freedom often leads her to emotional extremes. One moment, she is charming and playful; the next, she plunges into despair.

Though she has a strong personality, she is also marked by an inner fragility that makes her prone to anguish and insecurity.

Sarah is caught in a complex and crumbling relationship. She is deeply in love with her partner, Michael (Jason Patric), but their connection is strained by emotional turmoil, commitment issues, and personal insecurities.

Sarah longs for stability and love, but she also resists being confined, creating a push-and-pull dynamic that defines her relationship with Michael. Her deep need for emotional fulfillment clashes with his fear of commitment, leading to a heartbreaking exploration of love, loss, and self-destruction.

Robin Wright delivers a raw and emotionally charged performance, bringing depth to Sarah’s complexities. Wright makes Sarah/Loon a character who is both magnetic and deeply human, unpredictable in her energy, oscillating between euphoria and despair, trapped in a relationship that consumes her yet from which she cannot escape.