Before and After is a 1996 film, based on the 1992 novel of the same title by American writer Rosellen Brown. The movie was directed by Barbet Schroeder and starred Meryl Streep as Dr. Carolyn Ryan, Liam Neeson as Ben Ryan, Edward Furlong as Jacob Ryan, and Julia Weldon as Judith Ryan . In a small western Massachusetts town, Dr. Carolyn Ryan and her sculptor husband Ben seem to live an idyllic life with their two children Jacob and Judith . Their world is shattered one evening when Sheriff Fran Conklin arrives to tell them that Martha Taverner has been killed and witnesses saw Jacob with... her just before she died. When he asks to speak with Jacob, the family realizes that he's not in his room as they thought. Conklin asks to look at Jacob's car, but Ben refuses to allow it. When Conklin tries to ask Judith where Jacob is, Ben becomes openly hostile, demanding the sheriff get a warrant. When Conklin leaves to get the warrant, Ben inspects Jacob's car, finding clothes and a car jack with blood on them. He burns the clothes and cleans the jack before the police return.
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