Before I Go to Sleep (2014)

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

This movie has no story and leaves a lot of questions. Why did the man named Mike have and control her for 4 years? He is the one who beat her. It was actually evident from the beginning of the movie who the villain was and after 5 minutes. I had it pegged. This should have been a "B" movie. I have seen better B movies with more mystery than this movie. Don't waste your time on this movie.

Thrillers in which the main protagonist is an amnesiac often provide great entertainment because it's natural to feel empathy for the victim and also to enjoy trying to solve the mystery surrounding how they arrived in their present predicament. Furthermore, by effectively being put in the shoes of the amnesiac, the audience experiences first hand all the discomforts, frustrations and doubts that come with the condition and share the natural suspicions that arise about the sincerity of the people who are closest to them. Lots of movies feature situations in which "all is not as it seems" or where characters are "not who or what they appear to be" but where there is an amnesiac involved, the scope for exploiting these types of dramatic incidences is almost endless and this is the territory that's explored, with some success in "Before I Go To Sleep".Christine Lucas (Nicole Kidman) is a 40-year-old woman who lives in a quiet part of Berkshire and wakes up each morning with no memory of who she is or the identity of the man with whom she shares her bed. She's always surprised when she looks in the mirror because, for some reason, she expects to see a woman in her twenties and then when she surveys the wall full of photos in her bathroom, sees a pictorial account of her life with her husband, Ben (Colin Firth). Each morning Ben updates her on who he and she are and explains that her memory loss is due to injuries that she suffered in a car accident about 10 years ago.Every morning, a little while after Ben has left for work, Christine receives a phone call from Dr Nasch (Mark Strong), a neuropsychologist who says he's been treating her for some time and directs her to a camera (that's located in her bedroom) in which, at his request, she's been keeping a video diary of her daily life, her thoughts and her feelings. Dr Nasch is hopeful that Christine's use of the video diary will eventually help to restore her memory and in the meetings that he has with her each day, tries to establish the extent to which she can recall the traumatic event that triggered her amnesia. She seems to show some promise of recovery when she starts to remember some brief but unconnected images from her past and some of these images are upsetting. One includes a man with a scar on his face and Dr Nasch tells her that her amnesia is the consequence of a violent attack which she was fortunate to survive.Christine doesn't know who to trust or why Dr Nasch insists that her contacts with him should be kept a secret from Ben but nevertheless, does as the Doctor requests. In one of her meetings with Nasch, Christine shows some interesting responses to being shown certain photographs and this leads to her meeting up with an old friend called Claire (Anne-Marie Duff) who ultimately supplies some information which proves to be critical to uncovering a series of important revelations and to Christine's eventual recovery."Before I Go To Sleep" is an absorbing thriller with a great set-up, an interesting story and a denouement which, although satisfactory, doesn't live up to the standard of the rest of the movie. Despite this, it's consistently compelling to watch, well-paced and played out in a series of locations that very effectively emphasize the fear, confusion and sense of isolation that Christine experiences during her ordeal.The acting performances in this stylish movie are all of a high quality with Nicole Kidman's portrayal of the troubled amnesiac standing out and Colin Firth and Mark Strong fuelling the mystery brilliantly by both being superbly enigmatic and difficult to read at various junctures. Overall, this is definitely a worthy addition to the sub-genre of psychological thrillers in which a character with amnesia is featured.

Despite Nicole Kidman not being as likable as say a Jennifer Aniston would have been, this film is engaging, complex, and well put together. Colin Firth and Mark Strong's performances are outstanding. Kidman is annoying but her work is acceptable. In fact, Strong's work carries this film. As is often the case, if this movie had a Aniston, Jennifer Lawrence, or a Rachel McAdams type lead, it would have been amazing. That said, it is still a good film. Unfortunately, I would like to find out what happened to the last five minutes. Without giving any spoilers, those last few minutes were boring, drawn out (without reason), uneventful, and anti- climatic. I didn't read the book so perhaps this is one of those adaptation disasters wherein the book reads fine but when put on film, it goes off the rails. So much so, I was wondering what I missed because it was so bad.Overall, film is worth a watch and is good. I just wish those last few minutes hadn't left such a bad taste in my mouth.

I spent every second of this movie knowing one simple thing, that all the characters are probably not who or what they seem, thus, whatever twist that was inevitably on the way, automatically felt diluted because of it's obvious approach.Colin Firth not being Ben I'll admit, I didn't see. I thought maybe Firth was "Ben the Abuser" of course acting like the protector, and whomever else was Mike "The Protector" who somehow got silenced by Ben. And Mark Strong, well, I kept teetering there. Then there's the real Ben, who, if you ask me; him keeping absolutely no contact for four years straight, with someone he loves most in the world, is unforgivable and somewhat, implausible... And it's that story arc this movie uses to throw the viewer off, but... I don't know, it's a bit, hokey... even with trying to justify it through Adam.Before I Go To Sleep didn't demand my attention, but it was by no stretch of the imagination, bad. The cinematography and direction was adequate and fair. The story, predictable, however not in the more traditional sense, which is why a 6.8/10 can suffice.This film is not memorable, but it is all right and above board. I would've really just preferred to give it a solid 7/10... But, it's after taste is already fading.