In Going Under, Roger Rees plays Peter, a married psychotherapist with an obsession for his S&M dominatrix Suzanne, or “Mistress Dianna,” as he sometimes refers to her (played by Geno Lechner).

Peter and Suzanne have been enjoying a “professional” relationship—as professional as piercing, stretching, and flogging can be—for quite some time, though Peter has been pushing to see Suzanne “on the outside.” After an intense opening scene where Suzanne pierces Peter, she informs him that she will be leaving her dominatrix job to focus more on her art. Coincidentally, Peter’s wife is leaving for Nova Scotia for the summer to finish her novel. His wife, an incredibly evolved woman by pretty much any marital standard, is in on his fetish and apparently okay with it. He reveals to her before she leaves that he’s become “attached” to the dominant he’s been seeing, and after assuring her there’s nothing to worry about, she heads off to Nova Scotia.

What follows is a series of frustrating attempts to develop a relationship outside the world of the S&M dungeon. Peter’s obsession continues to grow, but Suzanne continues to push back, saying she’ll never feel comfortable with how they met. While Peter gradually evolves into more of a quivering, obsessive mess, leaving him unable to focus on his work, we learn that Suzanne assumes the dominatrix role in pretty much every relationship of her life: with her girlfriend, her mother, her brother, and even her former S&M employer. Periodic quick glimpses into each of their childhoods attempt to provide some insight on how they’ve each come to have the baggage they have—Peter had a speech impediment and Suzanne was labeled a slut after giving a boy a blow job at sixteen—but they’re just not enough. Although Roger Rees’s tortured performance is reason enough to see Going Under, the rest of the performances are a little lackluster.