Before I Go to Sleep (2014)
Certified: 15
Duration: 92 minutes
Directed by: Rowan Joffe
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Anne-Marie Duff, Dean-Charles Chapman, Adam Levy, Deborah Rosan, Jing Lusi, Rosie MacPherson, Charlie Gardner
KRS Releasing Ltd

Before I Go to Sleep is an adaptation of the 2011 novel by S.J. Watson that turned out to be a psychological thriller that really swept the charts and was the revelation of the year. Up till that time, Watson had been working shifts as an audiologist with the National Health Service and the book was written between shift slots. The next novel by this author is to be realised in 2015.

Before I Go to Sleep immediately caught the eye of Ridley Scott who produced the film adaptation while it was directed by Rowan Joffe (Brighton Rock).

This film is directed in very much a cross between Alfred Hitchcock and David Fincher as Joffe builds and escalates the premise in an efficient manner and puts his protagonist, played by Nicole Kidman, and his audience through the grinder.

In its own way this film’s premise reminded me at times of Memento (2000) but the principal character is totally different from that film’s and gives this movie its identity.

Kidman is Christine Lucas, a short-term amnesiac while Colin Firth plays her husband Ben. Some years before she had nearly lost her life during an accident and as a result, she now suffers from anterograde amnesia which requires her to relearn everything she needs to know every day. So, on a daily basis, she gets to know that their house is in London, she learns about her husband and every night she goes to sleep knowing that the next day she will have to relearn everything once more. Yet Ben does not know everything...

Psychologist Dr Nash (Mark Strong) has told Christine to start a video diary which seems to give her a sort of memory database. Every morning she puts together pieces of her life puzzle and also fragments of information that Ben keeps from her – he claims that it’s better to avoid telling her some things for her mental well-being. This includes information about her son Adam who died from leukaemia after she had her accident and her best friend Claire (Anne-Marie Duff), who is now estranged to her. Soon she starts to realise that what she is told and what is the truth are very different from each other.

The film flaunts an abundance of style and Joffe is the perfect director. He keeps a serious tone throughout the picture, which is further accentuated by the cold environments surrounding Kidman.

Kidman has already starred with Firth this year in The Railway Man, but this time he lets her hog the spotlight. Watching her in this muddled waif-like role gives the film its chilly angle and makes it not just a psychological thriller/mystery but also a sort of creepy affair that is ideal for pre-bedtime viewing.

With a story that is over the top and plot points that lean towards the pseudo-mass psychology textbooks, it’s all a very enjoyable affair. The audience knows it is being manipulated by Joffe but he does it so efficiently that this cat and mouse thriller, with its few delicious plot twists, will keep you hanging on.