Directed and co-written by Lynne Ramsay and based on Lionel Shriver’s 2003 novel of the same name, “We Need to Talk About Kevin” (2011) has remained one of the most talked-about movies of the last decade. The way it stages both the build-up to—and the aftermath of—a fictional school massacre, and how it unravels through the mother of the perpetrator, is so chillingly real and inwardly grounded that one might easily believe it’s based on a true incident.

The cinematic language Ramsay uses to examine familial blindness to sociopathy, societal blame-shifting, and the anatomy of trauma is so disarmingly simple and universal that it cuts deep. The film feels like a reel of a grieving woman’s life projected through a cracked mirror. And that’s not just aesthetic—it’s embedded deep within the storytelling. Eva’s non-linear character sketch holds nothing back that is crucial to...