Amnesia is a fun and popular concept for movies. S.J. Watson's best selling novel adapted to the screen by director/writer Rowan Joffe includes a big name cast and Ridley Scott as a producer. With all these elements in play, it should offer an engaging mystery, but somehow falls short with story holes that will nag you afterwards. As a Redbox rental it would be more than satisfying.
Christine Lucas (Nicole Kidman) wakes every morning with no clue about the man in bed with her, nor the wall of pictures in her bathroom with post it names and events of what is apparently her life. She has an particular type of amnesia that is only able to store information for one day before wiping her mental hard drive clean when she sleeps. Every morning Ben (Colin Firth) reminds her that he is her husband of 14 years, she is 40 years old and that he loves her. She was in an accident and that is why she is in this condition. There is a list on the wall of things she has to remember everyday. Ben leaves for work as a teacher, and Christine is left to her own confusion. A Dr. Nasch (Mark Strong) calls telling her that he is her neurologist working with her to bring back her memories. For some reason he tells her that their work must be kept from her husband. He also tells her she has been keeping a video diary to remind her new self about what's going on. Dr. Nasch tells her that she was attacked and left for dead near a airport hotel which contradicts her husband's story of an accident.
Christine has memory flashes of a woman with red hair and making rough love with a faceless man. Ben tells her that Claire (Anne-Marie Duff) was her best friend that stopped coming to see her because she was upset that Christine couldn't remember her everyday. When she finds out about having a son, Ben tells her their child had died of meningitis. Little clues are revealed and Christine records her finding on the camera for the daily updates to herself. Her daily paranoia builds and vexes her and on top of that her doctor is attracted to her.
Everyone does a wonderful job with what they have. Firth who has always played the bumbling everyday man who is likable and unpretentious and Strong who usually plays the smarmy villain both play against type. Kidman who displays her naked backside in the beginning of the movie does well showing the desperation and fear of what it like to wake up clueless each day. Plus she has two men telling her different stories about her. What's a girl to do? You may figure out what's going on long before the film does the big reveal. And there are many questionable plot points that you will be left to ponder. But it might be worth it if you really have nothing else to do and 92 minutes to kill.
(Review by reesa)
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