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Released tomorrow June 7th this is an arresting and Important British Film about a difficult and under-discussed subject - dealing with the aftermath of being the victim of an acid attack.

First-time actor Vicky Knight shows tremendous nerve and courage playing an acid-attack survivor in Sacha Polak\u2019s gritty, grounded London drama. In real-life, the 23-year-old was scarred in a fire as a child and has spoken movingly to the Guardian about the trauma of filming nude scenes and closeups of her burns (enhanced for the film by makeup). Well, not only is she brave, she\u2019s good, too, inhabiting her funny, impulsive, often unlikable character utterly.

'I hid my scars for years ... I thought I was only good for horror movies'

Dirty God\u2019s script skips the attack, picking up with Jade (Knight) as she\u2019s leaving hospital after months of operations and skin grafts. Back at home in the flat on a London estate where she lives with her mum and two-year-old daughter, everyone tells Jade that she\u2019ll be able to get on with her life when her ex-boyfriend is sentenced for the crime. But how can she move on when every time she leaves the house people stare? Jade\u2019s doctors are happy with her progress, but she trawls the internet in search of a miracle cure, finding a cheap plastic surgery clinic in Morocco that promises to correct her scarring.

Dirty God is Dutch director Polak\u2019s English-language debut, and it\u2019s an authentic portrait of London. Polak shoots with in-the-moment energy: in hospital wards, at a grime club, in a drab call centre where Jade gets a job to pay for surgery.

This is a film about a young woman made by young women (co-written by Polak and Susie Farrell), who aren\u2019t shy of thinking about what Jade\u2019s sex life is going to look like now. The guy she was flirting with before the attack (Bluey Robinson), has got together with her best mate (Rebecca Stone) \u2013 both are brilliantly cast. It\u2019s intense but not unwatchably painful, and so much more than an issue film or portrait of a victim. I really hope Knight finds a place in the film industry; with her terrific performance here she\u2019s earned it.