…“I will remember none of this” is what a vague and confused Nicole Kidman tells her selfie on a video camera of her life as it exists today. And then the day repeats itself again and again getting all Groundhog Day as she, and we, try to understand just what the heck is going on. At times, Nicole Kidman, playing the lost and forlorn wife of Colin Firth, is frail, mirroring a younger Mia Farrow.
A taut thriller based on the worldwide best-selling novel by S.J. Watson, BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP is the story of a woman (Nicole Kidman) who wakes up every day with no memory as the result of a traumatic accident in her past. As each day one bit of terrifying truth emerges Kidman begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her life – as well as everyone in it, including her doctor (Mark Strong) and even her seemingly innocent husband.
Its tone and fear is that of the Joe Rubin directed Sleeping With the Enemy with its psychological twist and turners. Reteaming Firth and Kidman again (they recently filmed Railway Man), Firth is unexpectedly good in this (though I can’t say why – spoiler alert) but it’s good to see him not-so-nice, though we’ve seen Kidman in this role before with that cautiously paced and low dip voice. Her creepy movie Birth comes to mind. The end result is an average thriller than seemed like it might have had so much more potential. Where’s Alfred Hitchcock when you really need him? ♚ ♛