Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

Before I Go to Sleep Blu-ray Movie Review

Unforgettable or fuggedaboudit?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 30, 2015

Take a heaping spoonful of Memento, and mix in a hearty dose of “damsel in distress” that might be compared in a way to Sleeping with the Enemy, and you have the makings of Before I Go to Sleep, a film with an interesting enough premise (however derivative it might be) that starts out like gangbusters and then slowly loses most of its momentum due to clumsy storytelling, increasing amounts of incredulity and, finally, just good old fashioned entropy. Much like Leonard Shelby in the Christopher Nolan film, Christine Lucas (Nicole Kidman) begins each day completely new, shorn of any memories of her past. Unlike Leonard, she’s not alone to piece together her identity each morning—she is comforted and guided by her generally patient husband Ben (Colin Firth), a man who “edits” Christine’s life for easy assimilation each morning, even if that means leaving out several salient pieces of information that Christine stumbles across at various points as the film progresses. Things get a bit more convoluted when a mysterious stranger identifying himself as Dr. Nasch (Mark Strong) calls Christine one morning after Ben has left for work, telling the already confused woman that she’s been seeing him for some time to try to regain her memory. He points her to a hidden camera in her bedroom where she’s been storing a video diary of sorts, in a high tech analogue to all those tattoos that adorned Leonard Shelby’s body. Before I Go to Sleep does a lot of things right in its early going, including telling the story resolutely from Christine’s addled and paranoid point of view. As I’ve discussed in other films about amnesiacs (Sleep, My Love and even the anime outing Amnesia: Complete Collection), keeping the audience in the same predicament as a character who can’t remember his or her past is typically a safe gambit in terms of hooking the audience while also keeping them guessing. When, for example, a film subverts its source material (as Project X did with its fascinating progenitor novel The Artificial Man by L.P. Davies) by spilling the beans as to what’s really going on, the audience suddenly becomes an observer rather than a participant.

Before I Go to Sleep doesn’t make that mistake, hewing closely to Christine’s utter consternation over who she is and, rather quickly, whom she can trust. Dr. Nasch reveals to her that her predicament is not the result of a car accident, as Ben had mentioned, but instead the result of a vicious attack that left Christine close to death. Christine wavers between believing Ben and Dr. Nasch, never quite sure which of them actually has her best interests at heart.

But rather shortly into this convoluted tale, Before I Go to Sleep begins to stumble. The first hiccup is an oddly placed flashback which takes the story back two weeks to detail what led up to the opening sequence. That immediately creates a bit of timeline confusion, at least intermittently, as it’s not always clear when certain events are happening (to be fair, this is a transitory problem and one that is clarified as the film progresses). But then to an even more debilitating effect, the film indulges in silly clichés like Christine suddenly experiencing “visions” of her past, albeit (of course) in dribs and drabs without any clear through line. How odd that this poor woman has evidently been suffering for years with no memory, and now suddenly, it’s coming back, if not as a flood, certainly in a “drip, drip, drip” accretion. Of course the implication is that it’s the good (?) doctor’s efforts that are helping her, but it’s too pat and contrived to ever come off as anything other than a somewhat desperate plot machination.

In a “three hander” like this (there’s really only one other character, a friend of Christine’s named Claire, played by Anne-Marie Duff), there’s an obvious paucity of likely suspects who will turn out to have nefarious motives. Again, Before I Go to Sleep initially does nice work tiptoeing between trust and suspicion with regard to both Ben and Dr. Nasch. Both of the men seem to be harboring secrets, and both seem to have ulterior motives in their dealings with the increasingly distraught Christine. But the denouement, which is giddily hyperbolic to the point it might almost be considered Grand Guignol, is utterly ridiculous and rests on certain unbelievable formulations (which won’t be spoiled here in any major way) having to do with Christine’s family connections. The film tries to plaster over this lack of logic with a couple of brief lines in a closing coda, but for anyone who thinks about certain lapses in logic, the plot holes only seem to become more—well, unforgettable (and not in a good way).

The film is certainly a showcase for Kidman and Firth, though, both of whom do fantastic work even when the script offers them little more than silliness. Kidman manages to make Christine both a potential nutcase and a resolute woman out to reclaim her identity. Firth is rather amazing as a seemingly tamped down gent who turns out to have a somewhat feral side. Strong plays with his perceived “villain” persona rather smartly in the film, keeping the audience on edge as to what he’s up to, especially once the hypodermic needles come out in a threatening manner.

That sequence probably works up what comes closest to traditional paranoid angst, though it’s notable that the film resolves the tension almost immediately. It’s also notable that the only real jolts the film offers are pretty cheap ones that come courtesy of jump cuts replete with ridiculous sound effects. The fact that the three most prominent ones all involve vehicles of one sort or another passing perilously close to Christine with attendant rush of sound is perhaps the surest sign that writer-director Rowan Joffe wanted to perhaps make the audience—well, forget (if only for a moment) some of the increasingly ludicrous plot segues Before I Go to Sleep tends to take.

Before I Go to Sleep Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Before I Go to Sleep is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Despite some pretty routine color grading, some of which sucks minimal amounts of fine detail out of the proceedings, this is a really lustrous looking transfer a lot of the time, with rich, burnished flesh tones and an appealing depth to the imagery that helps overcome a somewhat subdued palette. Joffe and cinematographer Ben Davis play with different looks and techniques in elements like Christine's video diary, some of which is presented in overly crosshatched, somewhat distressed form (see screenshot 9). Other elements, like Christine's recurring vision of a hotel hallway, are also fuzzier and more contrast boosted than the bulk of the film (see screenshot 5). A lot of the sequences with Christine and Dr. Nasch are graded either yellow or blue (are there no other choices to exploit?), and at times detail struggles to be more than average, especially in the dimly lit scenes inside Nasch's car. Sharpness and clarity are generally excellent, and the film suffers from no instability issues. There are also no problematic signs of digital intrusion and no problematic issues with compression despite an overall fairly dark presentation.

Before I Go to Sleep Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Before I Go to Sleep offers a competent if at times kind of bland lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that emphasizes clear presentation of dialogue and score over a glut of immersive effects. There are those jump cuts with attendant booming LFE on at least three occasions that will certainly provoke a startle response in most listeners, but for the most part this is a pretty reserved, tamped down audio offering that isn't really showy, but which offers excellent fidelity and wide dynamic range.

Before I Go to Sleep Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Character Illusions: Ben (1080p; 00:47) is a brief EPK with Firth discussing his character


• Character Illusions: Christine (1080p; 00:47) does similar duty for Kidman and her character.


• Character Illusions: Dr. Nasch (1080p; 00:50) rounds out the focal trio with Strong and his character.


• Forget Me Not (1080p; 2:26) is a typical EPK with scenes from the film and a couple of interstitial interviews.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:07)

Before I Go to Sleep Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Before I Go to Sleep starts out well enough, with a decently articulated if derivative premise, and a nice dose of paranoia leaving both Christine and the audience wondering exactly what's going on and whom to trust. But then the film falls into a cliché ridden rut from which it really never escapes, culminating in a silly, if admittedly frenzied, denouement. Performances are top notch, though, and may be enough to help some viewers overcome the logical lapses the film indulges in. Technical merits are very strong, and with caveats noted, Before I Go to Sleep comes Recommended.