Zerrissen

During a family holiday at the seaside, mother Sarah (Aird) and father David (Kotz) lose sight of their eldest daughter, four year old Alice Hooper. Despite a frantic search the child's body is never found. 11 years later Sarah and David are still trying to cope with their loss. Their two other children, Sean and Jasmine are now young teenagers and if she had survived Alice would be 14.

One day Sarah catches a glimpse of a girl at her local shopping centre and is convinced it is Alice. Returning the next day to confirm her suspicions Sarah sees the girl again and follows her to a flat on an out of town estate.

When a 4 year old girl goes missing during day at the beach, her parents fear the worst. Eleven years later, the little girl's mother spots a teenager and is instantly convinced the girl is her missing daughter.

A fascinating premise is poorly realized here, as although Torn contains two captivating central performances from Aird and Walker, they are horribly let down by clichéd writing, implausible plot devices and underdeveloped supporting characters. Kotz is particularly ill-served by the double-conceit of having to play a character so utterly dis-invested in events and revelations at home whilst also having to convince us of his bland and unconvincing 'affair' with his co-worker, whilst Walsh fares little better, being called upon only to look either miserable or drunk or both.

Some of the histrionics and lines of dialogue opening certain scenes are shudderingly clunky, and whilst well-acted by Aird, all of the confrontation scenes between her and Kotz fail to convince simply because Kotz's character is so underwhelmed by it all.

The all too few scenes between Aird and Walker are electrifying, however, and give a sense of what this story could have been with a better script and stronger/more interesting characters, plot-turns and characterizations.