Starring Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall, Joel Edgerton; directed by Joel Edgerton; 108 minutes; R for language

Nobody likes a bully. Especially a past victim with a long memory.

Figuring out who’s the bully and who’s the victim is part of the mystery in “The Gift,” a satisfying directorial debut from writer, producer and star Joel Edgerton.

Simon (Jason Bateman) and wife Robyn (Rebecca Hall) just relocated from Chicago to a picture-perfect house in his hometown of Los Angeles, where he has a great new job and an impending promotion. While out shopping, the couple bumps into Simon’s old high school classmate, Gordo (Edgerton). Shy and awkward, he reintroduces himself to Simon, who didn’t recognize him. They exchange pleasantries and innocuously part ways.

Suddenly, a bottle of wine appears on the couple’s doorstep, a gift from Gordo, though they hadn’t given him their address. Then he pops by unannounced, ostensibly to be helpful. More spontaneous gifts follow – he fills their pond with koi – along with a dinner invitation.

To Robyn, Gordo seems lonely. To Simon, he seems delusional. He remembers they called him Weirdo back in high school.

When Simon insists they cut ties, Gordo responds with an ominous reference to their shared history, which inspires Robyn to examine what happened between them as teenagers.

She becomes the protagonist in the film’s second half, an amateur detective investigating her husband’s past. The more she discovers, the more she distrusts him. Gordo doesn’t seem so solid, either.

Along the way there’s a pond of dead fish, a disappearing dog and a scary shower sequence; nerves are ratcheted to the max for each by Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans’ doom-heralding score.

The three leads make their performances look effortless, a credit to Edgerton’s direction. He’s eerily on point as a quiet lurker with a menacing side. Hall is commanding as a confident yet vulnerable wife, conflicted about the man she married. Bateman deliciously plays against type as a manipulative, executive who will step on anyone to get ahead.

Sandy Cohen, The Associated Press

Rebecca Hall, Jason Bateman and Joel Edgerton star in “The Gift.” Courtesy Blue-Tongue Films.