Before I Go To Sleep movie review — Nicole Kidman has amnesia

REVIEW: In the annals of amnesia movies Before I Go To Sleep, starring Nicole Kidman, may not be remembered fondly. If at all.

Before I Go To Sleep (M)

Director Rowan Joffe (Brighton Rock)

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth, Mark Strong.

Rating: **

Desperately seeking snoozin’

In the annals of amnesia movies, Before I Go To Sleep may not be remembered fondly. If at all.

In its most compelling stretches — which are all too few and far between — this sombre psychological thriller shapes as a mid-strength Memento.

However, when urgency levels drop, the film leaves you with no choice but to daydream about what might have been.

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Unsettling phone calls ... Nicole Kidman, who plays Christine Lucas, with Mark Strong as a therapist Dr Nash in Before I Go To Sleep.

The core premise of the S.J. Watson bestseller of the same name remains intact, and it is an inherently fascinating one.

For almost a decade, a British housewife named Christine (Nicole Kidman) has awoken each morning with her memory wiped clean.

Has she been deceived ... Nicole Kidman as Christine Lucas in Rowan Joffe’s new movie Before I Go To Sleep.

Her powers of recall disappeared as a result of an accident. However, as every day unfolds into another in the same way, Christine — who has started keeping a video diary of her movements — has pause to wonder if there is anything remotely accidental about what she is going through.

Her husband Ben (Colin Firth) seems the supportive type, carefully resetting the household before he leaves for work.

But once Ben is gone, there is always that unsettling phone call from a therapist named Dr Nash (Mark Strong).

From S.J> Watson’s best-selling novel ... Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman have the starring roles in new movie Before I Go To Sleep.

He says he has been treating Christine without Ben’s knowledge, and that she is making progress after years in a rut.

The who’s-duping-who conundrum does supply plenty of twists and turns, but few of them make any real, rattling impact.

Performances are perfunctory when they should really be pressing.

Originally published as Before I Go To Sleep movie review — Nicole Kidman has amnesia