6.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Christine Lucas wakes every day with no knowledge of who she is or who the man is sleeping next to her. As she tries to piece together her life using a video journal she has been keeping, the few people around her offer confusing information and conflicting memories.
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Anne-Marie Duff, Ben CromptonPsychological thriller | 100% |
Drama | 69% |
Mystery | 12% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH, French, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
UV digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
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 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 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 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.
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