What the hell? Yes, there will be spoilers. But trust me this movie is really bad so it is to your advantage to know.
Yes, it is not a good thing when a film starts just fine, albeit a bit slow but promises to be an intelligent thriller with a touch of horror and drama and fine acting but then ends up including witches, extremely religious undertone, a villain who is just one of the most ridiculous and pointless villains in history and all that…
I got out a little bit of a rant and now I feel better.
Now, for the record, I really like Julianne Moore. She is a terrific actress and a really pretty woman even without make-up. And it is no secret that I love Jonathan Meyers. He is a great actor and yes, most movie addicts prefer when a decent script comes with talented actors who also happen to be pretty.
And the story starts out pretty cool: Psychiatrist Cara Jessup (Julianne Moore) believes in her science but she believes in God as well. Even the random street murder of her husband hasn’t faltered her faith, but her young daughter (Brooklynn Proulx) and Cara’s father, also a psychiatrist (Jeffrey DeMunn) refuse to believe in God after the tragedy. Despite all this, they seem to be a happy and easy-going family, along with Cara’s younger brother Stephen (Nathan Corddry). However it all gets disrupted when Cara’s dad wants her to observe a new patient: David (Jonathan Rhys Meyers).
As it turns out, her father wanted him to take him on as sort of a challenge. Because Cara doesn’t really believe that Multiple Personality exists and her father not only believes that it exists but he also believes David has it and he is intent on showing this to her daughter.
Multiple Personality Disorder or not, David does seem to have more than one identity and as Cara looks further into the case, she notices that those identities belong to already dead people. To David or Adam or whoever is possessing his body at the moment is pretty certain he is him. How the hell does he know so much about their lives in the first place? And can the murders be connected?
Actually, up until Cara found out what the connection was, the movie was pretty solid and engaging. Then it turned into an aimless nightmare, let go of the science, included a weird -looking old woman (seriously? We still get the same extremely old and ugly woman witch with just as weird “acquaintances” )? And it is shame because this could have been one of the most creative and refreshing movies done on Multiple Personality Disorder…
To me, the second half was a disaster and I am really going to think twice before seeing a Julianne Moore movie. I absolutely hated Blindness, Chloe – though much better than Shelter and Blindness, is average. But this was really bad. And while Jonathan’s acting is really good, good acting can’t save a horrible script. I think Jonathan makes better choices than Moore for the most part but avoid this one and Octane, even if you are a fan.
Obviously all opinions are subjective. So I think that it is safe to suggest you might like this film if you liked Kevin Costner’s The New Daughter or Simon Baker’s Not Forgotten. If you didn’t like those, stay away from this one.
Written by Michael Cooney. Directed by Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein, both are Swedish.
6/10 for the first half, 1/10 for the rest.
Other Posts featuring Julianne Moore
Chloe starring Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson and Amanda Seyfried
Laws of Attraction starring Pierce Brosnan and Julianne Moore
Benny and Joon starring Aidan Quinn, Johnny Depp, Julianne Moore and Mary Stuart Masterson
Other Posts featuring Jonathan Rhys Meyers
From Paris with Love starring John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers