*Spoiler alerts are ahead*

Frida (Naomi Ackie), the protagonist in Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut “Blink Twice,” is a young Black woman desperate to be seen—seemingly by anybody and specifically by Slater King (Channing Tatum), a billionaire tech tycoon who’s publicly rebranded himself as a tree-hugging zen archetype of a man after being called out for a history of abusive behavior toward women.

 It’s that innate feeling of invisibility that makes Frida ripe for Slater’s picking when they meet at a charity event, and he invites her to board a luxury jet to his private island where he now, allegedly, basks in nothing more than the sun and the fruits of his labor. Yet what follows is a Jeffrey Epstein-esque tale about men, women, sexual abuse, and above all, the quest for power.

 Kravitz first began writing the script that would become “Blink Twice”—named after the expression one uses to convey they’re in danger— in the summer of 2017 as the #MeToo movement bringing awareness to rape culture began to gain traction across social media. Her inspiration resulted mostly from disbelief that no one had tackled the subject narratively onscreen before, though she has her theories.

 “It’s scary to talk about power and how we all are participating [in its dynamics],” Kravitz tells BET. “It's not just about the blame game. It's about how we're all as a society playing the game and the game is really focused on pretending we're not playing it. So it's like you're breaking this unspoken rule that we've all agreed to by talking about it.”

 As with any game, there are various players whose distinct roles help maintain the status quo. Enter the supporting cast of the thriller, which includes Christian Slater and Haley Joel Osment as stereotypical party boys, and as its later revealed, rapists; Levon Hawke as a young, naïve participant in the assaults who’s forced to reckon with whether he’s been as helpless in his ability choose his actions as he feigns in the end; and Alia Shawkat as Jess, the friend who suspects something’s wrong but is told to quiet her concerns in the name of having fun. There’s also a Ghislaine Maxwell type, Stacy, portrayed by Geena Davis, whose job as Slater’s sister is to keep the party going and pretend she has no knowledge of nor bears any responsibility for the abuse she knows is taking place.

 “Stacy's character represents another generation of women that didn't have the community around them that we have, that didn't have the #MeToo movement, that didn't have the space to talk about things,” explains Kravitz. “There was definitely this feeling from generations before me that this is how it is, get used to it, and I wanted to represent those women as well.”

“Blink Twice” steers clear of depicting sexual trauma for trauma’s sake. In addition to working with intimacy coordinators individually, the cast also participated in women’s and men’s nights, where they could collectively talk about any feelings that came up during filming.

“It was really important that everyone obviously felt safe and also knew why we were doing what we were doing,” says Kravitz. “To put yourself through what you have to go through to create these scenes, I wanted to make sure that we were all connected in terms of our intention. And I wanted the men to feel cared for as well. We're so thankful for them being allies; they have to go to a very uncomfortable place as well—a dark place—and we wanted to honor all of that. Sometimes it's not just about the result, it's about how you get there. And I think a lot of us, including me, healed a lot of trauma having this community and having this experience together.”

Toward the end of the film, Frida and another victim, once in competition with one another, realize who their true enemies are and set out to seek vengeance upon them. The scene of the unlikely union that manifests is bolstered by Beyoncé’s “I’m That Girl” playing in the background—a music clearance Kravitz and her team thought was equally unlikely in real life.

 “When we were shooting the scene, I was playing music [because] I wanted them to walk to something, and they kept saying, ‘play Beyoncé, and I was like, ‘we will never get Beyoncé,’” Kravitz explains. “And then when I was editing, I put that song in just to see, and I was like, ‘oh my God, it's so good.’ And everyone was like, ‘you'll never get Beyoncé,’ and I was like, ‘I know, but let's just send it to her and see.’ And she watched the scene, and the queen said yes, and it was definitely an act of love. I really believe that she wanted to be a part of the story and support women.”

 For some viewers, the triumphant energy of that scene may be lost in one of the film's final shots when Frida chooses the name of power, which comes as a surprising plot twist. Kravitz says the ending was intentional and central to the film's theme.

 “When people talk about women, they talk about empowerment; when they talk about men, they talk about power. I wanted to create a character like Frida, who is attracted to power, and [ask] what does that mean? What will we do to get it?” explains Kravitz. [Frida] doesn't want Slater King; she wants to be Slater King. And that's really what the story is about, ultimately.”