“Why does love, the absence of love, the end of love, the need for love result in so much violence?” pondersRooney Mara’s character in the trailer for Sarah Polley’s new filmWomen Talking.

The haunting first trailer for the drama, exclusive to PEOPLE, features Mara alongside her co-stars, includingClaire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Frances McDormand, Ben Whishaw and Judith Ivey.

“We have been preyed upon like animals. Maybe we should respond like animals,” says actress Sheila McCarthy, playing one of the women from the community.

Michael Gibson

WT_00885_RC4 Rooney Mara stars as Ona in director Sarah Polley’s film WOMEN TALKING An Orion Pictures Release Photo credit: Michael Gibson © 2022 Orion Releasing LLC. All Rights Reserved.

“InWomen Talking, a group of women, many of whom disagree on essential things, have a conversation to figure out how they might move forward together to build a better world for themselves and their children,” Polley describes of her film.

“Though the backstory behind the events inWomen Talkingis violent, the film is not. We never see the violence that the women have experienced. We see only short glimpses of the aftermath. Instead, we watch a community of women come together as they must decide, in a very short space of time, what their collective response will be.”

WT_04420_R5 Judith Ivey stars as Agata and Claire Foy as Salome in director Sarah Polley’s film WOMEN TALKING An Orion Pictures Release Photo credit: Michael Gibson © 2022 Orion Releasing LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Polley says that after reading Towes' book, “it sunk deep into me, raising questions and thoughts about the world I live in that I had never articulated. Questions about forgiveness, faith, systems of power, trauma, healing, culpability, community, and self-determination. It also left me bewilderingly hopeful.”

WT_01975_RC Jessie Buckley stars as Mariche and Judith Ivey as Agata in director Sarah Polley’s film WOMEN TALKING An Orion Pictures Release Photo credit: Michael Gibson © 2022 Orion Releasing LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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The United Artists film marks Polley’s first film since her autobiographical documentaryStories We Tell(2012). The Canadian actress previously directed the acclaimed filmsTake This Waltz(2011) andAway from Her(2006).

Women Talkingopens in select theaters beginning Dec. 2 and expands on Dec. 25.

source: people.com