For a decade, Vera Farmiga has blessed audiences with one impeccably conveyed supporting character after another — the police psychiatrist caught between two sides in The Departed, the non-committal sexpot who quietly rejuvenates George Clooney’s appetite for an honest human connection in Up in the Air and even the distraught mother who fails to accept that her adopted 9 year-old is a murderous maniac in Orphan.

Design by Kate Mock | Daily Trojan

Given Farmiga’s affinity for varied, challenging material, it is hardly a surprise that for her directorial debut, she selected Higher Ground, a film that presented the arduous task of balancing the enormity of a decades-spanning narrative with the intimacy of one woman’s intrinsic journey.

Written by Carolyn S. Briggs and Tim Metcalfe, based on Briggs’ memoir, the film follows protagonist Corinne Walker’s lifelong struggle to find meaning in her Midwestern existence through faith.

Farmiga’s directorial skill is evident from the get-go, as she nimbly guides the viewer through Corinne’s childhood and adolescence, from her first religious experience at Bible school to her out-of-wedlock teenage pregnancy. Rarely do rapid-fire snapshots of youth, designed as a movie’s preamble, feel so authentic — a testament to Farmiga’s construction.

At the crux of the film is a tragic bus accident that nearly kills adult Corrine (Farmiga) and now-husband Ethan’s (Joshua Leonard) newborn. The two resolve that God has saved them, and they vow to commit to a religious lifestyle, joining Pastor Bill’s (Norbert Leo Butz) Evangelical congregation, a friendly but dogmatic group.

What follows is less about plot than it is about Corinne’s internal conflict, as she comes to progressively doubt the church’s role as the rock in her life through the struggles of three more children and marital strife with Ethan. This doubt is deeply entrenched in the gender politics of her religion, where men are held as dominant and Corinne’s legitimate, scripture-based questions are seen as efforts to undermine that dominance.

The “adult” portion of Higher Ground — the bulk of the film — works because Farmiga the director knows what Farmiga the actress needs: a lack of interference. This is the quietest, most nuanced performance designed to carry a movie in recent memory and, as a result, any directorial flourish would have distracted from the meat. Even an unusually long take could have diverted attention away from Farmiga’s performance, robbing it of its accumulating power. Stripped down to the bare essentials, Higher Ground is a commanding showcase of Farmiga’s raw talent.

Farmiga’s minimalist filmmaking approach likewise allows her co-stars to shine. The under-appreciated, character actor Joshua Leonard does an excellent job of becoming Corrine’s foil in the form of her husband — he is a resigned follower where she is an active doubter — without becoming the villain. Nina Arianda (Midnight in Paris) is also especially noteworthy as Corinne’s sister, who seeks in drugs what Corinne seeks in religion. And playing Corrine as a teenager, Taissa Farmiga (Vera’s younger sister) proves that acting chops run in the family.

Aside from making the performances the center of the show, the most integral directorial choice Farmiga made was to not judge Evangelicalism in general, instead making criticisms from Corinne’s specific perspective. Ever since George W. Bush brought Christianity squarely back into the national spotlight, Hollywood has had a field day satirizing it, although usually tepidly.

But Farmiga and company keep the potshots to a minimum — only a humorous scene in which the men learn how to pleasure their wives by listening to a Church-issued instructional tape feels like an ornery caricature — and the religious commentary in turn benefits from being wholly character-driven.

The determining factor as to whether viewers will find Higher Ground great or simply good will depend on how much they relate to the material. Those who have personally toiled with their faith may find real transcendence in Corrine’s story, but even the most resolute atheists will, at the very least, appreciate the movie because it’s as well acted and well told as nearly any other film this year.