Accused review: Accused on Netflix begins as an intimate, layered queer love story and slowly morphs into a chaotic thriller that never quite figures out what it wants to be. At the center of the film
is Dr. Geetika Sen (Konkona Sensharma), the formidable head of gynecology at a leading London hospital. She is respected, authoritative and seemingly in control — both professionally and personally. At home, she shares a tender, committed relationship with wife Meera (Pratibha Rannta), a pediatrician at the same hospital. The two are planning a future together, talking about adopting a baby, carving out a space for themselves in a world that isn’t always kind to queer couples. Then everything implodes.
An anonymous email lands in the HR department accusing Geetika of sexual misconduct. What initially seems to be a single complaint quickly snowballs into multiple allegations. An independent investigator, a former journalist experienced in such cases, is brought in to investigate the matter. With each new email, the gravity of the accusations intensifies. Geetika suddenly goes from being a respected medical professional to being whispered about as a sexual predator. Her reputation crumbles almost overnight.
The film attempts to explore complex terrain: power dynamics in hierarchical workplaces, the blurred lines between authority and intimacy, the fragility of reputation in the age of anonymous allegations and the emotional cost of being accused. It also tries to remain a queer love story at its core. It wants to be a psychological thriller. It wants to be a commentary on institutional processes. It wants to dissect sexual power play in positions of authority. It wants to say everything.
And in trying to say everything, it ends up saying nothing with clarity.
The script is all over the place. Threads are introduced and abandoned. Motivations feel murky. The escalation of accusations feels more convenient than organic. The dialogues rarely land with the emotional weight they are clearly aiming for. Scenes that should devastate feel oddly flat because the writing doesn’t earn them. There are simply too many loose ends and instead of building tension, the narrative spirals into confusion.
Performance-wise, the film redeems itself thanks to its actors. It is almost painful to watch an actor of Konkona Sensharma’s caliber in a role that doesn’t match her depth. She is, as always, fantastic. Controlled, layered emotionally precise — Konkona brings gravitas to scenes that the script fails to support. She gives Geetika complexity even when the writing reduces her to broad strokes. But even an actor of her stature cannot single-handedly rescue a screenplay that refuses to cohere.
Pratibha Rannta, too, gives it a good shot. As Meera, the hapless girlfriend caught in the middle of professional scandal and personal collapse, she embodies vulnerability and strength. She is trying to hold her relationship together, trying to protect the woman she loves and trying to make sense of the chaos that threatens to swallow their shared future. Pratibha makes Meera believable but the narrative pushes her into familiar, cliché territory.
That’s ultimately the film’s biggest problem: it is riddled with clichés. The investigative beats feel predictable. The moral ambiguity feels forced rather than organic. The emotional confrontations feel scripted rather than lived-in. There is a good idea here — on paper, it sounds sharp, urgent and relevant. But on screen, it simply does not translate.
Accused aspires to be a searing commentary on power, consent and institutional scrutiny. Instead, it becomes part thriller, part romance, part social drama that never fully commits to any of them.
