Siempre fiel

There are a lot of good and compelling elements in this Dutch thriller. Two woman go away on a romantic weekend with their lovers, instead of their husbands and one is murdered. It is low budget, but it is engaging and interesting to watch how their romantic deception unravels their families' lives in the midst of the murder. I did have an issue with the main character's reaction to her friends murder, although otherwise I found the acting to be good. I am not sure if a murder investigation is treated as casually outside of the United States as it appears to be here, but that issue unnerved me, a little, when watching. It has twists, which keep it interesting. But, not necessarily, more believable. I do think it is good filmmaking-the cinematography and the Direction are smart. It does keep you guessing, but in the end is messier than it needs to be.

And I don't mean just the two of the main characters, but literally everyone - from all of the characters to writers and director.

No one acts in their best interest, and it can't even be explained away as panic, as everyone is calm, just irrational.

For instance, a character lies to the police about something that the police wouldn't really care about, but - for NO reason whatsoever - makes sure to tell the truth to another character who would be upset about it.

Another character pulls an extremely risky and unnecessary stunt in a situation that could have been handled in thousand different ways and each one of them would've made more sense.

Oh, and when it comes to police, nothing about their investigation makes any sense. It feels like the writers asked a six-year-old what they imagine a police investigation looks like, and they actually put it that way in a script.

However, my "favorite" parts were two lame red herrings; one of which is explained away in a pretty silly manner and another one is forgotten as soon as it happens. Can't say much without spoiling it but IF (for whatever reason) you decide to watch it, it will leave you wondering: "What the hell was the meaning of that peculiar detail if it's never going to be mentioned again?"

I feel like I could go on and on about it, and still wouldn't be able to cover all the messy parts of the plot. Pacing which is extremely off and wooden acting do not help. Just avoid it.

Don't be dazzeled by the third review, the first review was pretty accurate.

Terrible, amateurish acting. , one of the leads, acts like a 16 year old instead of a grown adult. Her facial expressions are so over dramatic, I feel like I'm watching an episode of Saved by the Bell murder mystery.

Walks past an old man with blood all over himself and doesn't think to ask if he's OK. WTF? One of many scenes that make no sense to sensible people.

The Police ask Bo to contact Isabel's family. Yeah, that's not gonna happen, especially when she could be a suspect.

Later Police show everyone the murder scene picture. How stupid and unprofessional, is the writer on drugs?

The storyline writing is so poor and rushed, plus the dialog between characters is wooden and lacking in any type of emotion you'd associate with people who are supposed to be friends.

They talk to each other more like work colleagues that only talk at work and can't be bothered with one another otherwise.

I'm guessing the writer doesn't have a lot of friends or is socially inept. So many things that don't make sense, make the story disjointed and frankly, barely watchable.

I slugged through it and honestly I don't know why. It clearly wasn't worth it.

.......mostly bland and boring (mildly erotic)thriller - including the fact that it is neither erotic nor a thriller.

By the time it all ends, you are likely to have (a) kinda guessed what was coming and (b) pretty much lost interest

Two friends take a weekend vacation - plan being for one (the heroine) to act as an alibi for the other (gf) to go have a sexy time out with her sex buddy/lover, or so it seems.

Gf disappears, a dead body is found, heroine is forced to lie to everyone, police suspect her, blah blah blah....and obviously there are twists and turns, red herrings, everyone has something to hide ... all the usual tropes.... There are some heated encounters, some lesbian montages but no one really gets naked and it's all pretty bland and dull and a slow burn.... Like a wokier, wonkier version of Basic Instinct in a post me too world that is surely heading for a climate meltdown, with nothing that viewers can sink their teeth into.

Everyone goes around looking as guilty as hell, and as the movie miserably drags itself over the finish lining with the expected (gasp!) twist ending, you can't but help wonder what was the point of all this trouble, really??? And.....did I just waste 90m ??

So.....like I said at the beginning be warned .....sadly the movie is not what it seems or aspires to be......

Positive surprise from a Dutch movie production. Strong characters, with a complex psychological background that makes it believable that they do what they do. Bracha delivers a top performance, and Elise is good as usual.

We couldn't see any surreal plotholes or silliness from the main character. Under normal circumstances people may choose differently, but here its not clear whom to trust. The idea that a judge would fall through the cracks and find herself in a position of suspicion makes it extra interesting.

This movie maintained a constant tension of "what will happen next?". While some critics called it painfully slow we didn't experience that at all. Instead, it's never clear what will happen next or how the story will end. This kept us hooked in.

The end isnt your typical ending, which is something I love to see, but its wrap up was very brief and could have used an extra scene or two. Overall enjoyed a good movie night!