The pivotal moment that I liked best was when instead of asking her guardian angel for punishment for the sadistic murderers of her child, she instead asked for: “The power to forgive”. I appreciated the surprising change of expectation, it took me aback.

This change in the request from a request for vengeance and justice to a request so that the burden she was carrying (which she had no power to resist) was that she would be able to forgive — who?

We don’t know because she didn’t say.

But in my opinion, what she wanted mostly was to forgive herself for failing to protect her child from what these predators did.

I know she felt responsible for her child being abducted, any parent would. I know she wanted justice for her child, any parent would.

And, I know she was in constant hell over her failure as a parent, I know this because as a parent myself, if the predicament she was in was something I experienced, then I know I would be in that place she was in mentally, emotionally, and spiritually And really, there would be nothing I could do about that, that sense of helplessness and powerlessness.

That’s just me in the world I inhabit. But, she did something.

She found a way to attempt to resolve her problem, but it took a great leap of faith to reach out to actual (she hopes) practitioners of the occult. In her shoes, I would never have attempted what she did, I don’t think I would have that level of confidence or that level of desperation.

So, this was a very interesting story, it explored the outer reaches of human experience into places I will never go, because I am not that brave and because my imagination is not that big. But that is the purpose of a story and the heroic deeds they encompass.

I appreciate the review on this site and all the commenters observations and opinions, they helped me understand the film better.

I would love to see any future adventures this woman has based on her encounter with her guardian angel, it feels like her life is just beginning.

Hey there Rick,
After interviewing the writer and director of this film, I think I have a pretty good bead on what it was that Liam was shooting for. Here’s a specific quote from Liam and that interview (can be found here) showing just where this movie’s center is coming from: “So that in mind, whilst A Dark Song is clearly built around an occult ceremony, I wrote it as a Catholic film, specifically an Augustinian film. It’s about traveling, not away from but, into the deep flaws of a person and either being swallowed up by them or in the deep dark seeing a light and transcending them.”

Taylor

The chamber of effect, “where we seal our vessel from the world”
The chamber of song, “we push off into the void on our journey”
The Blackness
The Boundless
The Tangible

These are just symbols in the ritual for what really happens on the journey to meeting the guardian angel.

The Chamber of Effect is the house itself, sealed off from the world. The Chamber of Song is the practice of the ritual (the eponymous “dark song”) itself, which she must do until she is totally honest. After being honest, she enters The Blackness, where she experiences death, gets Solomon stabbed, hears her child mauled by a dog through a door, and is taunted by a shadow demon. Once Solomon dies and the texts are all blacked out, she has entered the chamber of The Boundless, where she is stuck in the ritual and can not escape no matter how much time passes or how far she travels. After leaving and coming back to the house, she enters the chamber of The Tangible, where she is physically assaulted by demons and the angel manifests in the material realm.

The fact that Sophia asks for forgiveness in the end is a great twist, but I think the most important feature of this film is that it highlights the gulf between systems of ritual practice and what those ritual systems can actually mean. It indicates a way that one might try to understand occult practices going forward, as well as help some of us to breathe new life into religious dogma.