Suspension of Disbelief

15 September 2013 / by Bart (Amsterdam/Holland)

Nothing Personal but so far I find the rating of this film rather low. The cause may be that it requires some effort and a tiny bit of insight from the viewer. On top of that: this is an independent production and it is no straight 'Thriller'. Mike Figgis even provides us with a manual right from the start. Martin (Sebastian Koch) is a socialite screenwriter and teacher who gets intrigued by a beautiful French woman (Lotte Verbeek) gone missing in London. But she's part of an identical twin … So here we are right on the spot: 'Suspension of Disbelief'. Although presented as a thriller, the film heavily leans on the insights of Carl Jung. The wary film noir interludes and erotic touches to this film are cleverly shot and edited as they precisely fit this theme (and the sheer beauty of my fellow citizen). The average viewer will find this movie fairly enjoyable, great Leads, good script and pitch perfect music (Jazzy Figgis, Wagner, Radiohead). But no real sex, no fast pace and a strange, confusing end. The lives of others however will be mesmerized by the gradually emerging different realities and the big question mark at the end.

"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 will normally sit and watch a picture that may have a director attempting a novel treatment. I can usually interpret what is going on - I do watch silent pictures.

In this picture I vainly tried to work out what was going on, who was what and where was whom. All to no avail.

In the end I gave up after about half an hour - I was becoming bored and restless.

I do wish that some people making pictures would realise that their audiences go to pictures to be entertained and pay good money for this.

After watching this load of cods-wallop, my first thought was to send an invoice to the director to compensate me for my time in having to sit through it.

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.

It's just totally unbelievable that Mike Figgis, an Oscar nominated and celebrated director made this movie. Everything is wrong. The acting is on an amateur level, the cinematography likewise. A lot of stupid ideas, all done in a most hopeless manner. The music used is of the lowest quality, and never used in a good way. The story is almost non- existent and the characters are shallow and absolutely not believable at all.

It looks like some sort of rejected film school project. An absolute snoozefest, and one of, if not THE worst movie I've ever seen. Shame on the people behind this.