A woman wakes up every day, remembering nothing as a result of a traumatic accident in her past. One day, new terrifying truths emerge that force her to question everyone around her.A woman wakes up every day, remembering nothing as a result of a traumatic accident in her past. One day, new terrifying truths emerge that force her to question everyone around her.A woman wakes up every day, remembering nothing as a result of a traumatic accident in her past. One day, new terrifying truths emerge that force her to question everyone around her.
- Boy in Dream
- (as Flynn Macarthur)
- Mother in Park
- (uncredited)
- Doctor
- (uncredited)
- Police Officer
- (uncredited)
- Paramedic
- (uncredited)
- Hospital Patient
- (uncredited)
- Psychiatric Nurse
- (uncredited)
- Man on Bike
- (uncredited)
- Nurse Who Have Austrian Accent
- (uncredited)
- Nurse Kate
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn the novel, Christine's diary is in the form of a journal / notebook, whereas in the film it is a camera for obvious visceral reasons.
- Goofs(at around 47 mins) During a conversation with Ben at his school, Christine drops her bag to the floor and approaches Ben to give him a hug. Camera cuts to wide angle of the whole classroom with the hugging couple yet there is no bag on the floor.
- Quotes
[first lines]
Christine: Who are you?
Ben: I'm your husband... Ben.
Christine: What?
Ben: We got married in 1999. That was 14 years ago. Christine, you're 40.
[hands her her clothes]
Ben: You had an accident. It was a bad accident. You had head injuries. And you have problems remembering things.
Christine: What things? What...?
Ben: Everything. You store up information for a day, and when you wake up in the morning, it's all gone. You're back to your early 20s. You'll be okay. Just... trust me.
Christine: I'm scared.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Projector: Before I Go to Sleep (2014)
- SoundtracksYou Keep Me Hangin' On
Performed by The Supremes
Written by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier (uncredited) and Eddie Holland (as Holland, James Jnr)
Published by Jobete Music/EMI Music Publishing Ltd
Courtesy of Motown Records
Under license from Universal Music Operations Limited
Nicole Kidman plays Christine Lucas, someone who if she saw "50 First Dates" wouldn't remember it the morning afterwards! She wakes as a forty-something 'housewife' in her suburban home every morning with Ben (Colin Firth) in bed next to her. However, she can remember little to nothing of the last twenty years.
She is being covertly helped on a pro-bono basis (with a trace of pro-boner thrown in) by UCL neuro-scientist Dr Nash (Mark Strong). Nash reveals that she ended up in this state after being severely beaten up and left for dead near a Heathrow hotel. He persuades her to maintain a video diary of the days' events and recollections, but he has to remind her where she's hidden the camera via phone every morning.
But Christine has a traumatic and terrifying past, remembered (and then immediately forgotten) in dreams, but which only very slowly starts to piece itself together during the waking hours. One character emerging from the mental mist is a long-time college friend Claire (James McAvoy's wife Anne-Marie Duff) who disappeared from her life under mysterious circumstances but is now 'found' again.
Will Christine piece together the jigsaw? What was she doing in the Heathrow hotel? Who beat her up and why? Where does Claire fit in? Can Mark Strong play anything other than a 'baddie'? So many questions, so little memory.
Produced by Ridley Scott and with Rowan Joffe ("28 Weeks Later") writing the screenplay and directing, the film is pleasingly set in and around a non-touristy London with some fine scenic shots - you can't really beat the view from the Royal Greenwich Observatory, and this nicely features in one scene. Nicole Kidman has a lot of acting to do in this role and she does it very well. Firth and Strong - two of my favourite actors - are both excellent and keep you guessing throughout. But of all of the acting roles I found Anne-Marie Duff particularly effective in the short-and-sweet role of Claire: a very powerful and touching performance.
It is tempting to describe any psycho-thriller as 'Hitchcockian', but there are moments where this film can certainly be tagged in this way. This is helped by a Bernard Herrmann-like score by Ed Shearmur, moody photography by Ben Davis and crisp editing by Melanie Oliver.
I enjoyed this film, but even with all of these positives it still felt more like a B-movie than an A-movie for reasons I can't quite sum up. In addition there were a few niggling plot points and, in my opinion, a slightly weak epilogue ending. Also note that, in a world where far too many women still face physical violence, there are flashback scenes in this film that some may find distressing, earning it its '15' UK certificate.
(Please see my other film reviews at bob-the-movie-man.com and sign up to "Follow the Fad". Thanks.)
- bob-the-movie-man
- Sep 14, 2014
- Permalink
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Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Sprache
- Also known as
- Tôi Ác Ngu Say
- Filming locations
- Pavilion Tea House, Greenwich Park, Charlton Way, London, England, UK(Christine meets Dr. Nasch)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $22,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $3,242,457
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $1,843,347
- Nov 2, 2014
- Gross worldwide
- $17,669,776
- Runtime1 hour 32 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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