Horacia has spent the last thirty years in a women’s correctional facility. A former elementary school teacher, she leads a quiet existence helping others practice reading and writing. When another inmate confesses to the original crime, Horacia is released and seeks out her estranged family.

Taking inspiration from a short story by Leo Tolstoy, Filipino maestro Lav Diaz forges a startling tale of revenge. Shot in the filmmaker’s rich, trademark chiaroscuro, The Woman Who Left is an expansive psychological allegory for the far-reaching ramifications of personal and national trauma.