Complete Unknown - Du bist, wer du vorgibst zu sein

After reading so many somewhat negative reviews I hesitated even watching this film - but then, it's actually a wonderful movie. Great actors and great script too. I guess what so many people don't like is that it's not a 'plot movie' - there's none of this 'overcoming obstacles' and stuff - I for one am glad! It's slow and thoughtful. Highly recommended!

Not Everyone is in Close Proximity to Professional or Semi-Professional "Theatre", this one has "Off-Broadway" Written all over it, therefore the Movies can Offer Audiences want to Experience that sort of Thing, at least "Two Dimensionally".

This Film Looks, Talks, and Plays Out like a Stage Play. Early Television had things like "Playhouse 90" and this Story and Production would Fit Nicely in that Format. The Writing is Sharp, Ambiguous, Mysterious, Attracting, and sometimes even Profound.

The Acting is Uniform and the Two Leads (Rachel Weisz, Michael Shannon) do Their Best Weaving In and Out of the Complicated Scenario. It's one of those that if You Pay Attention, can Draw You into its Maze as the Twists and Turns will Hopefully Lead to a Reward.

Reaching the End of the Puzzle that is "Alice" is Semi-Rewarding and the Jigsaw like Journey does Unveil slightly Disturbing Behavior and is Meant to Question Commitment vs Freedom.

But Life's Important Decisions are so Multi-Layered and Complex that the Easy Answer of just "Moving On" every Year or so is Hardly the Solution to a Varied and Fulfilling Life.

This is Obviously Reflected on "Alice's" Face and Demeanor as She Relates Her Biography and after Her "Confessions/Revelations", She is right Back Where She Started, just like a Rat/Robot going through the Maze Again and Again with Little or No Lasting Reward for Her Efforts.

This is for a Limited Audience, certainly Not for Everyone, but Recommended for those that like Their Movies with More Head than Heart.

How to separate truth from fiction in Rachel Weisz's character in "Complete Unknown" is the key to the story of a biologist who has led a deceptive life laced with a ton of 'fertilizer'. She has so many falsities in her life story she can't keep them all straight. She appears at a party at Tom's (Michael Shannon) house as the date of his best friend and beguiles the group with so much fabrication that they begin to see through her. But not as fast as Tom, who dated her at some time previous and knows that she isn't even using her real name.

"Complete Unknown" is a character study, about which the moral is 'know thyself' (unless, of course, you don't want to). Lot of good chemistry between Shannon and Weisz, who play off each exceptionally well. The story becomes increasingly beside the point as watching the two display their acting chops. In sum, a silly story held together by two pros. It's an 'indy' which won't get a lot of exposure but is a treat from an acting standpoint.

Maybe I was in the mood for it, but I found this little movie intriguing. It's certainly different. I didn't read anything too profound into it; I just think it was an interesting story beautifully played.

It seems to have bored some people stiff and the critical response according to Wikipedia was mixed to negative - I guess they weren't in the mood for it.

Alice (Rachel Weisz), a woman who disappeared years before, returns and meets her old boyfriend Tom (Michael Shannon). We learn that she has changed identities and occupations many times, acquiring new skills and friends, only to suddenly leave them all behind to adopt a totally new identity.

This sort of thing usually has sinister undertones often involving serial killers and people held captive in cellars, but here there is nothing evil at all, only feelings of sadness for a lost relationship and Tom's sense of purposelessness in his life.

There are a few more layers to it, and Alice's self indulgent philosophy is questioned.

There is one telling sequence when Alice and Tom help an older couple played by Danny Glover and Kathy Bates. Tom is invited into Alice's world of identity changing almost like in theatre sports where the players are given a character and then have to improvise like crazy; it unlocks something repressed in Tom.

As Alice's story unfolds I thought of that line in Kurt Vonnegut's "Mother Night" - "You must be careful what you pretend to be, because in the end you are what you pretend to be".

The film has a seductive mood aided by an atmospheric score and doesn't outstay its welcome. I won't spoil the ending, but it felt right.

I'm glad I didn't read the critics first - "Complete Unknown" was a complete surprise.

Alice (Rachel Weisz) re-enters Tom's (Michael Shannon) life after disappearing for fifteen years. Only, she's hard to identify because of the multiple personalities she has assumed in those years. She remains the titular heroine of Complete Unknown, and she is a stranger to the end of this complicated and accomplished indie.

Don't come to this absorbing adventure seeking Walter Mitty thrills: Alice subtly changes her personal shape and doesn't burden us with cheap melodrama or even sexual romance. Rather the emphasis is on discovery: As Tom peels back the layers of her personalities and discovers her, he is drawn into discovery of himself and his own unfulfilled life. Although she is the center of the exploration, he is close behind, like all of us afraid to look inside ourselves to see the multiple possibilities for life change.

Complete Unknown exposes the yearning we may all have to live other lives. In Alice's case, she may have lived as a magician's assistant and a researcher, and more in between. But actually whatever roles she has taken, she cannot efface her core self as her return to observe her parents and see Tom again shows.

In a bizarre occurrence on the street, Tom helps a fallen old lady (Kathy Bates) by pretending to be an osteopath, rather enjoying how Alice has roped him into to assuming the new role. At this point, director Joshua Marston shifts from the mystery of Alice's identity to the mystery of who Tom is or wants to be.

He becomes the one whose identity we also speculate about. Whether or not he decides to leave his unfulfilled job to go with his wife to California for her professional study opportunity becomes just as intriguing as Alice's many lives. The film is figuratively blunt about the power of changing one's life, for good or ill.

Marston has masterfully made us question our own identities and our use of talents and pursuit of other lives than the ones we have stuck ourselves in. By extension, Complete Unknown may be a discourse on the ability of art such as movies to take us into lives heretofore unavailable to us.

Anyway, this is a film for thinking people who may want to speculate on the lives they could have and the life they have.