Driftwood - Tödliches Treibgut

Anne Brochet and James Spader give excellent performances. Though the storyline is not particularly orignial I found both to be very believable characters. (Anne Brochet, hauntingly so) The plot is a more likely, and subtle, variation on the "Fatal Attraction" theme. Unlike Glen Close's character in Fatal Attraction Sarah (Brochet) is a very likable and attractive woman ... well, except for a little problem with "abandonment issues". <smile> The power of the conflict this movie generates is tied to Spader's (and the viewers) empathy for Sarah. I would highly recommend this movie for those viewers that tend to like "character driven" movies.

You don't really notice it at first, but Anne Brochet is deceptively cute. Intitially she seems almost plain, then you get a crush on her and think it is your own special crush. Then you realize she was Roxanne in Cyrano with Depardieau. Anyway, this is an interesting little movie about obsession and deception and Spader is interesting, even when doing mundane things.

When an unknown man with amnesia (Spader) is washed up on a secluded beach of Northern Ireland, he is taken in by a solitary eccentric spinster (Brochet)and it becomes immediately apparent that she has "control issues." Since he has a broken leg, he's temporarily at her mercy and tries to humor her as she becomes increasingly strange. Brochet plays "Sarah" so well that the viewer soon surmises that beneath her elfin winsomeness lies some dangerous emotional and mental instability which will eventually erupt. She succeeds in seducing the stranger and thereafter regards him as her personal possession. The arguments with her old harpy of a mother are telling. When the couple have a special candlelit dinner commemorating his sexual surrender, she appears wearing a weird lacy gown strongly suggesting the mad Miss Havisham in "Great Expectations." Viewer interest will be maintained until the inevitable tragic result of the man breaking free of the coerced relationship which bears a familiar parallel in reverse to "The Collector."

It's a movie about a woman who finds a man on a seashore next to her home. She is a sculptor, she takes him in, he doesn't remember his name, she tells him they're alone on the island. To us it's obvious she's lying, and a matter of time that they will end up in bed and he'll find out she's lying. Not boring, just not very interesting. And her talking to her deceased mother is really redundant. The ending is SO annoying and foreseen. Probably a nice story, bad movie though.

In Ireland, the lonely artist Sarah (Anne Brochet) finds an unconscious castaway (James Spader) drowned at the beach with a broken leg. She brings him home and treats him. When he awakens, he has amnesia and can not remember who he is or what has happened to him. Sarah tells that they are isolated in an island and a boat will arrive with supplies only a couple of months later. However they are indeed in the continent but Sarah hides the location from the man. Along the days, she feels obsessed by him and she seduces him and they have a love affair. When he feels better, he decides to snoop around trying to leave the island. But the deranged Sarah will do anything to keep him with her.

"Driftwood" is a suspenseful romance with a story of loneliness, insanity and obsession. The plot uses parts of the storyline of "Misery" and other films of attraction. Anne Brochet gives a great performance and has a great chemistry with James Spader. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Prisioneiro da Ilha" ("Prisoner of the Island")