Review of Before I Go to Sleep (2014) by Dawdlingpoet — 26 Nov 2021

This is a very tense and haunting film which I'd say has elements of drama, thriller and mystery to it. The main theme is trust - trust and personal identity. It features quite a strong use of stringed instruments in the majority of scenes to add to the sense of rush, panic and tension presumably felt by the characters involved in said scenes.

Nicole Kidman does well portraying Christine as a confused, disorientated yet also strong willed and determined woman. I could feel her frustration and confusion as she tried to regain memory of key times and events in her and her families past. Colin Firth plays her other half, Ben, who is quite stoic, someone rather matter-of-fact like, who 'tells it like it is'. Other cast members include Mark Strong as Doctor Nasch, who has apparently been treating Christine for her insomnia, Anne-Marie Duff as Claire and Dean-Charles Chapman as Adam. I thought that both Kidman and Firth gave decent performances in this film, which helped it seem more believable as they played their roles convincingly.

There is a fair amount of whispers present in the film, so its possible that some people, perhaps those who may be hard of hearing, may struggle to fully follow dialogue in parts, although I managed to follow the majority of it. It may be worth turning the volume up on your TV if you think this would be an issue - there are relatively few scenes where there is constant loud pitched noise, so that shouldn't cause too much of an issue I'd have thought.

I was impressed with the way the soundtrack really emphasised the clear tension and general mystery surrounding most of the scenes and the plot in general. There are some scenes in which we see Christine looking through a peep hole and a long corridor is presented in fisheye lens format (curved at the sides). The camera zooms in on her eye, with spookily red veins present and then on what she sees, sometimes tinged in a spooky orange colour tint. It reminded me, very briefly, of more gory films such as perhaps The Shining, although no extremely graphic gore is present in this film (some vioence but not so much gore).

Speaking of content, this film contains some strong language, some sex references and partial nudity and some bloody violence, mostly in flashbacks. It is relatively spooky and potentially frightening, certainly to young viewers, hence the 15 rating it carries. I wouldn't have thought it would be likely to particularly upset people, as it handles the topics the plot contains quite sensitively overall I thought.

As the film continues, the plot slowly unwinds, although it seems, certainly early on, as if its almost impossible for real truths to be discovered. The critic in mean felt as if it was slightly unlikely for Christine to somehow, as if by magic, be able to piece things together, as she does but having said that, its not as if everything goes smoothly or all is entirely clear and I certainly felt like I was entertained while watching the film. It is a relatively immersive film and at just under an hour and a half long, its a good film to watch if you have a relatively short time to watch a film. For what it is, its pretty decent.

Yes I'd recommend this film, as I felt it featured good performances, a curious and intriguing plot, it was relatively immersive and spooky and thus a decent drama/thriller/mystery.