The Burning Plain

The Burning Plain centres on a burning trailer found in an isolated stretch of desert, where the bodies of two secret lovers are discovered. The story follows the lives of two families connected to that event, moving between the time before and after it. Years later, Sylvia, a restaurant owner in the Pacific Northwest, is forced to confront long-buried secrets from her past, while a younger woman, Mariana, grows up in a small town near the Mexican border and tries to hold her parents' broken relationship together.

The film was written and directed by Guillermo Arriaga, a screenwriter making his directorial debut here, ahead of the anthology film Rio, I Love You. Charlize Theron plays Sylvia, with Kim Basinger as Gina, Jennifer Lawrence as the young Mariana, and Joaquim de Almeida, John Corbett and Robin Tunney among the supporting cast. The production brought together Argentine and American companies on a budget of about 20 million dollars, and it took roughly 6 million dollars worldwide, a modest return relative to its cost.

On IMDb and TMDB, viewer scores sit around the middle of the scale, while the film critics' rating of 5 out of 10 from 80 reviews places it lower still, indicating a mixed critical response alongside lukewarm audience reception.