Bougainvillea is a new OTT Malayalam thriller directed by Amal Neerad, dealing with the themes of agency, control, and power dynamics. The film deals with deceit, manipulation, and the narrative structure is similar to Rashomon, where the same events are told from different perspectives, so the audience is kept on their toes with constant mind games. Though some plot twists are predictable, the attention to detail, visual aesthetics, and subtlety are the main draws of the film.
The movie is all about emotional depth and how characters undergo trauma, and how a cycle of abuse keeps revolving. The movie is never exploitative with its domestic violence or sexual assault storylines, instead keeping a more reflective tone. In the climax, the film does shift towards more thriller-like moments to give a balance of nuance storytelling with the height of suspense.