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Before I Go to Sleep
Grade: C
Director: Rowan Joffe
Screenplay: Joffe from S.J. Watson novel
Cast: Nicole Kidman (Moulin Rouge), Colin Firth ( TheKing’s Speech)
Rating: R
Runtime: 92 min.
by John DeSando
“Memory... is the diary that we all carry about with us.” Oscar Wilde
I remember amnesia films from the unknown Christopher Nolan’s challenging Memento to the intellectually thinner Bourne thriller series. In fact, Memento’s Oscar nomination for original screenplay reminds me how derivative Rowan Joffe’s Before I Go to Sleep is by contrast.
Because of an accident, Christine (Nicole Kidman) can’t remember her life from one day to another, so each day begins with a history lesson on her life that is complete, improbably, by noon. The men in her life, especially Ben (Colin Firth), her husband, are all suspiciously nice or plain suspicious (Dr. Nasch, played by Mark Strong). Well, this is a thriller and a drama; the latter suffers for the increasingly incredible scenes that cater more to the thriller than to character study.
As the plot unfolds in predictable ways (clues to derail our logic, characters not fully developed or different from what they seem), Kidman keeps her signature Grace-Kelly iciness, so despite her pitiable amnesiac state, she barely incites caring in the audience, or even lustful thoughts.
Before I Go to Sleep is a competent thriller and a midlin’ character study. The film, like her, is remote, a fading memory of what entertaining and challenging amnesia films have come before.
John DeSando, a Los Angeles Press Club first-place winner for National Entertainment Journalism, hosts WCBE’s It’s Movie Time and co-hosts Cinema Classics. Contact him at JDeSando@Columbus.rr.com
