Before I Go To ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz

*spoilers*

'Before I Go To Sleep'.

Mr Darcey turns into Papa Lazarou.

"I'm your husband."

"You're my wife now!!!!"

Here's what happens in 'Before I Go To Sleep'.

Nicole Kidman wakes up every day remembering nothing.

The filmmakers think that this is such a complicated premise that they have to go over it again and again for the first twenty minutes. Is her husband really her husband? Is her doctor really her doctor? Why have all her friends left her? Who tried to kill her?

It's the sort of thing that Hitchcock might have directed if he'd been around in the 90s. But it's not Hitchcock and it's not the 90s. This is a  psychological thriller that wouldn't look out of place as an afternoon tv movie. It might work as a book but as a film this is predictable and plodding tosh. If you can't see the twist coming then you might want to consider upping your intake of fish oils.

The palette of muted blues and greys does lend the whole thing a certain sense of domestic claustrophobia but it's no more stylish than your standard Scandi-crime drama and a lot less interesting.

Nicole Kidman is okay but underplays it to the extent that you just feel irked by her sullen confusion. As she is in every scene this soon becomes a problem. It's also one of those films where you can almost hear the direction behind the camera. She swivels her eyes left, she swivels her eyes right, she looks down, she looks up and cries. She sits on a bed, she looks at a camera, she looks at photos, she talks on the phone - that's about it for the first hour. You might want to take some sweets.

sit and stare

 sit and stare

 sit and stare

 talk and stare

Colin Firth underplays it too but has more nuance to his performance. Mark Strong sits in a car and talks doctor talk. He's nowhere near as creepy as I think we're supposed to think he is.

It all becomes so dull that every time a car passes the screen the filmmakers feel the need to turn it into a big jump scare.

On the plus side it is polished enough to work, has some sudden and well handled explosions of violence and is pleasantly diverting enough. But it is also a wearisome bore, with a twist so obvious you think "is that it?" and start picking holes in it all through the tediously stretched out ending. 

Before I Go To Sleep. Snoozefest.