Suspension of Disbelief

Mike Figgis continues to move in his own inimitable fashion creating films that require concentration, patience, and some indulgences from the viewer, but films that in the end are like wonderful paintings to hang in a gallery for repeated exposure and admiration. Figgis wrote, directed, composed the musical score, edited, and performed the cinematography for this puzzling work: it works very well if your mind is sharpened and up to a challenge.

Socialite Martin (Sebastian Koch) is an accomplished writer of cinema and theatre who now teaches his trade to film school students. Fifteen years ago his wife disappeared after an argument, has not been seen or heard from since, and Martin has been left to singly raise his daughter Sarah (Rebecca Night) who aspires to be an actress like her mother. At her 25th birthday party, Martin encounters the mysterious Angelique (Lotte Verbeek) who is found dead the next morning. An investigation by the police leads to Martin being the prime suspect and with the arrival of Angelique's twin sister Therese, who comes to London regarding her sister's death, and with whom Martin has a fascination, comes even more questions concerning their brief fling. The are subplots galore: the entire film is being written as we see it and the director of Martin's film (Eoin Macken) is obsessed with Martin's daughter Sarah who also becomes physically involved with Therese. If all this sounds confusing it is meant to be: Martin's creative ploy is the concept that the character is the plot – and while it is puzzling at times, the manner in which it plays out is absolutely masterful.

Other actors in the supporting cast include Julian Sands, Lachlan Nieboer, Frances de la Tour and Kenneth Cranham. Every aspect of this film is creative – split screens, naming of scenes, strange photographic images, and interplaying story lines that somehow connect. This is a tough film but deserves the attention of those who love art films. The only problem is the level of sound of the spoken lines – it needs subtitles despite being n English, but none are available.

Grady Harp

"Suspension of Disbelief" never suspends ours. Figgis fans will recognize many delightful Figgis narrative and cinematographic tropes, but sorely lacking is any narrative lure, any reason to keep watching. The film has ellipsis and mystery, but does not reward the viewer for countenancing those. At times the story elaboration is positively dreary. Even this film's meta-film leitmotif cannot salvage it. The film struggles with a paucity of narrative richness, and is devoid of the incandescent impending gleam so often to be found in Figgis's other films, most of which are marvelous. This flop is the exception that proves the rule that Figgis is Britain's best auteur.

I have to admit, that the original title is better than the German translation (which I translated back to English). We get a German actor here who is quite convincing in being ... well quite hard to decipher. Then again, we also have a story of others trying to deceive - but to what end and with what purpose? If there is one ... and who can we trust? Things that get layed out here.

And then we have the movie within a movie - which adds another layer to it. Which you'll either appreciate or not while watching this. Just do not expect this to be an erotic highlight or whatever you may read into this ... it is sizzling at times, but it is more teasing than actually pleasing ... that rhymes sort of! Nice. So you got the information, now you can decide if this is for you or not.

For the ones who think they never heard of the director Mike Figgis, I will remind you of "Leaving Las Vegas". Yes that director!

I have been a fan of Mike Figgis since 1988 when he wrote and directed Stormy Monday and I really enjoyed Liebestraum and The Loss of Sexual Innocence. Not all his movies are "Hollywood" type like Leaving Las Vegas and it takes an acquired taste and thinking outside the box to appreciate some of his work.

Suspension of Disbelief is one that's not for the people who like straight forward movie. It's a story of a man who writes movie scenarios and happens to write one that involves us with this movie ("Participation Mystique") because he is writing the scenario for the movie we are watching and Mr. Mike Figgis does an excellent job with this concept.

The story takes us to different parts of this man's life, such as the world of his daughter who, within this movie, is a starting actress in another movie; the fact that there is a death (murder or accident?) which involves few people, and so on … (I don't want to spoil it for you). This movie takes you in different directions and still revolves around the same characters.

I personally enjoyed it because it's really close to what life is all about: A lot of things are happening at the same time and you don't know which one is the most important until you think about your personal life and understand that all of them are important. Your day to day life is not just a story within the same theme. After all, you are the story of your life!

If you expect a packaged ending to this movie, you will be disappointed but if you understand that you are the continuity to this film and understand that you, through your thinking, are supposed to draw your own conclusions for an ending, it will leave you interested even when the movie is over.

I saw this during a screening in Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square. I will confess that I don't normally watch independent movies and have no idea about the director's previous work. I wasn't expecting much. The shots, lighting and environment were pretty good, the editing was good too. Considering the limited budget and that they made this movie in 22 days I think the movie is pretty good. But having said that if I judge this movie neutrally I would say it's an average plus. The plot resolves around a death of a pretty (and lost?) girl. The whole plot resolves around this and sometimes becomes too boring and lagging. The director has tried hard to make this like an art movie but sometimes the artistic expressions don't make any sense. There is some nudity and sex in the movie but they are neither erotic, not do their presence contribute to the movie in any way so I don't see the point of having those. It feels like they just wanted some skin in the movie. Still the movie is enjoyable. The major complain I have about this movie is that it does not give you a satisfactory ending or a proper ending with answers. I really dislike open ended movies that leave the conclusion to the viewers and if you are like me you will not like the ending too.