Under Suspicion (2000)

Director:

Stephen Hopkins

Writers (WGA):

John Wainwright (book)
Claude Miller (1981 screenplay Garde à vue) ...

Release Date:

2 June 2000 (Italy)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Everyone has secrets. Some of them are crimes.

Plot:

A lawyer is asked to come to the police station to clear up a few loose ends in his witness report of a foul murder...

Plot Keywords:

Police | Murder | Toupee | Speech | Interrogation

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Gene Hackman	...	Henry Hearst
Morgan Freeman	...	Captain Victor Benezet
Thomas Jane	...	Detective Felix Owens
Monica Bellucci	...	Chantal Hearst
Nydia Caro	...	Isabella
Miguel Ángel Suárez	...	Superintendent
Pablo Cunqueiro	...	Detective Castillo
Isabel Algaze	...	Camille Rodriguez
Jacqueline Duprey	...	Maria Rodriguez
Luis Caballero	...	Paco Rodriguez
Patricia Beato	...	Darlita
Sahyly Yamile	...	Reina
Hector Travieso	...	Peter
Marisol Calero	...	Sergeant Arias
Vanessa Shenk	...	Sue Ellen Huddy

Also Known As:

Suspicion (France)
Third Degree (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for sexual content and language.

Runtime:

110 min | USA:111 min (TV)

Country:

France | USA

Language:

English | Italian | Spanish

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Finland:K-15 | South Korea:15 | Iceland:12 (original rating) | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Portugal:M/16 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Brazil:14 | Chile:14 | France:U | Germany:12 | Ireland:18 | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Spain:13 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #37059)

Filming Locations:

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Company:

Revelations Entertainment

Trivia:

Stephen Hopkins wanted to cast Monica Bellucci after watching Malèna (2000) while on an overseas flight.

Goofs:

Continuity: There is one scene, a flashback, where it shows Henry jogging around a breakwater, or rock walkway, with the neighbors dog. Here you will see the dog clearly on a leash. This is the only scene where the dog is on a leash otherwise the dog has always been seen running free.

Quotes:

nm0000151 Capt. Victor Benezet: Go home. Put on a funny hat. Do whatever it is morons do.

Movie Connections:

Version of Garde à vue (1981)

Soundtrack:

No Quiero Llorar

Smart, Strange, Engrossing

'Under Suspicion,' a remake of the French film 'Garde a Vue,' is as compelling and engrossing a psychological thriller as I've seen in years. The drama is wonderfully tense and taut, and, best of all, the suspense holds out until near the very end of the film, lingering on afterward for hours in the viewer's mind.

Gene Hackman plays Henry Hearst, a successful attorney in San Juan, Puerto Rico who lives an apparently blissful life of luxury--he's got money, respect, a gorgeous house on the coast, and, most of all, a stunningly beautiful young trophy wife, Chantal (Monica Belluci, the voluptuous heir-apparent to Sophia Loren, in one of her first US roles).

On the eve of the feast of St. Sebastian, during which Hearst is set to deliver an address at a fundraiser for hurricane relief, he is called in to the police department by his longtime acquaintance Victor Benezet (Morgan Freeman) for additional questioning surrounding the death of a young girl. It seems that earlier that day, Hearst discovered the girl's body while jogging. It doesn't take long to discover that Hearst is a suspect, particularly when he is repeatedly threatened and insulted by the tactless Owens (Thomas Jane), a loose-cannon junior detective hot to make his first big bust. As the interrogation progresses--interspersed with stylish flashbacks combing memory and real-time--it becomes apparent that the case is far more complicated than it first appeared. It seems that the imminently respectable Henry Hearst has a fetish for young girls and a secret life involving internet pornography and prostitutes. Simultaneously revealed is Captain Benezet's longstanding jealousy of Hearst, whom he has watched gain wealth and prestige while Benezet has lost his wife to divorce and struggled to get by. As the intense intellectual combat continues, truth becomes more and more murky, to the point that the characters are not even sure of their own motives or actions.

This movie really stuck with me. Without giving anything away, let me say that the film will force you to consider the complexity of truth and memory and the degree to which psychological trauma and coercion can influence what we know about ourselves. Hackman and Freeman are superb, and it's a pleasure to watch them stretching their skills and chewing up the excellent dialogue as their characters confront each other. Thomas Jane gives one of his better performances as the hot-tempered Owens, and Monica Belluci gives a subtle and convincing performance while simultaneously being so unbelievably gorgeous that you can't take your eyes off of her. The direction by Stephen Hopkins is superb--creepy and stylish, the cinemetography makes maximum use of San Juan's many settings.

For some reason this one really flew below the radar when it was released. I highly recommend it as an excellent, memorable suspense thriller with meaning and substance.