Every family has its wounds. With love and hard work, sometimes these can heal as they’re passed down through the generations; other times they remain open. In her debut documentary, The Taste Of Mango, director Chloe Abrahams turns the camera towards her own family’s woes. Her grandmother, Jean, has stayed with her husband in Sri Lanka for 40 years, despite his brutal abuse of Chloe’s mother, Rozana, and the fact that he is a known paedophile. Rozana pleads with Jean to leave him and to come live with them in England, but so far Jean has refused.

With patience and a willingness to listen, Abrahams is able to capture the anger, resentment and grief that has built up over the years, but also the enduring love, longing and even understanding that still exists between Jean and Rozana. When Jean comes to visit for her birthday, she snuggles and laughs with Abrahams and Rozana despite the baggage they all carry. The Taste Of Mango offers little direct commentary or voiceover. It is an incredibly unobtrusive documentary because Abrahams has tenderly cultivated space with her camera for all these complex emotions to reveal themselves.

The picture we come away with is one of three women who love each other deeply and who have been variously shaped and hurt by the society in which they live. Jean has allowed abuse to fester for years, and over the course of the film she says some terrible things. But listening to her, it’s clear that she is a victim of abuse too, afraid to leave and scared to speak out. Patriarchal violence and rape culture have impacted this family deeply, but it’s a genuine honour to be privy to this filmic act of reconciliation and hope.

The Taste Of Mango is in cinemas from Friday 29 November.