Movie Review - Before I Go to Sleep

Before I Go to Sleep ** (out of 5) (R) Three fine actors (Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth, Mark Strong); one overworked mental-impairment premise; a script co-written by director Rowan Joffee with enough moodiness and suspense to almost pull off a psychological thriller; all capped, and largely undone, by a Hollywood-mandated (e.g. - box office generating) ending. The net result is making the talented leads appear to seem to have gone for the paycheck, at the expense of the prestige. Kidman and Firth definitely won’t be adding mates for their Oscars in this one.

Kidman plays a woman with a form of amnesia that only exists in the movies, and probably some of TV’s soaps. Though she’s 40, she wakes up each morning next to Firth with no memory of her life after age 22, due to trauma suffered 10 years earlier. Every day he has to remind her who they are with words and photos from their shared past, overcoming her anxieties and fears about not knowing how she awoke as a stranger to herself. This concept supported a successful, twisty action plot in Memento, and a saccharine-drenched romcom, 50 First Dates. (There may have been others, but I can’t recall.) Kidman is approached by an attentive shrink (Strong) who calls her daily while Firth is at work, discussing her situation and giving her a video camera to secretly record each day’s insights and memories to help her avoid starting the next one from scratch. Each new morning begins with his telling her where she hid the camera.

Questions overflow about all that may have occurred during the blanked-out years, why she’s still unable to remember anything beyond occasional flashes that may offer as much confusion as memory, who/what may have caused the accident (or possibly worse) that so profoundly damaged her brain, who she can trust, etc. The screenplay dangles enough possibilities to keep one guessing, and Kidman has enough appeal and acting chops to keep most viewers interested. Unfortunately, the last 15 minutes resorts to cinematic conventions and sentiment, negating much of the virtues the story had been proffering until the denouement. They must have forgotten where they left the ending that matched the rest. (10/31/14)