Lynda La Plante's credentials in crime stories featuring strong female characters would be hard to improve on. Following her seminal "Prime Suspect", "Mind Games" is an intelligent and multi-faceted perspective on the role of the mind and the brain in investigation and in life. The central character (played by Fiona Shaw, without question one of the greatest actresses in the world) uses not just her professional psychological profiling qualifications to inform her work, but also draws on her own faith (the character was previously a Roman Catholic nun) to help her in understanding what the mind can do and what it cannot overcome. It is a magnificent film: exciting, original and quiet, with a uniformly excellent cast who bring a real freshness to the genre.
10 Reviews
Fans of British crime drama should skip this one
sparkle_kai18 May 2021
As a fan of British crime drama and police procedurals I clicked on this readily enough. Five minutes in was ready to turn it off but battled through hoping it would get better. Unfortunately it did not. With performances going from wooden to cringe inducing and over the top to the point it almost had me laughing. The story itself plods along and there are holes in the story which I will not go into to keep this spoiler free. It is predictable and the reveal of the killer and 'twist' ending holds no surprises. The dialogue and direction are also poor and this movie drags interminably. There is so much great British drama to choose from, this is not one of them.
A new angle on a familiar tale
r_j_t_kelly22 August 2006
Warning: Spoilers
I presume that this was written for Fiona Shaw. It is hard to imagine anyone else who could bring such certainty and conviction to the character of a Catholic nun, turned criminal profiler, whose faith informs her understanding of psychology to help her understand what we worry about calling "evil". Like Lynda LaPlante's other great creation, Jane Tennyson, Frances is initially mocked, ridiculed and doubted by her co-workers, but her collaboration with another female (played in this case by the magnificent Sara Kestelman) provides the missing link to a terrible serial killer's identity. Great performances all round, with Shaw so good that one wonders why she isn't on screen in lead roles more: it's an intelligent, gripping and fresh take on the analysis and psychology of killing and killers. Great stuff.
Interesting idea - terrible script
brianpanto24 April 2021
A great watch.
Sleepin_Dragon17 February 2022
The Police bring in a criminal profiler, to help unravel a series of ritualistic murders, none of which seem to be connected.
I'm watching this for the first time twenty years after it was first transmitted, in my opinion it holds up really well. The scenario is a good one, it's very easy to spot that it's from the pen of Lynda la Plante, it has the five of Prime Suspect and Trial and Retribution.
Fiona Shaw, in my humble opinion, she's one of the best, outrageously talented, and of course she doesn't disappoint, even if the basic premise of the character ia a wee bit of a stretch, perhaps.
You can argue it looks a little dated, and perhaps some of the filming is a little clunky, but it's well paced, they present a gritty mystery, and they offer a very exciting ending.
What a shame they didn't develop the character any further.
Well worth watching, 9/10.
I'm watching this for the first time twenty years after it was first transmitted, in my opinion it holds up really well. The scenario is a good one, it's very easy to spot that it's from the pen of Lynda la Plante, it has the five of Prime Suspect and Trial and Retribution.
Fiona Shaw, in my humble opinion, she's one of the best, outrageously talented, and of course she doesn't disappoint, even if the basic premise of the character ia a wee bit of a stretch, perhaps.
You can argue it looks a little dated, and perhaps some of the filming is a little clunky, but it's well paced, they present a gritty mystery, and they offer a very exciting ending.
What a shame they didn't develop the character any further.
Well worth watching, 9/10.
Complete trash
lisaheslep13 March 2019
Serial Killer in London
Bernard-Dunne17 August 2010
Warning: Spoilers
A pretty good Lynda La Plante creation, even if there were other writers involved. It's great because the character of Frances O'Neil is different from the usual in that (as has already been said) she's an Irish Ex-nun who because of her emotions she is nick named 'The Celtic Tiger' as well as been put down with jibes from police officers about 'Nun On The Run' and 'The Flying Nun' etc With having a Irish female lead who works for the police, this series has been matched to the early series of 'Silent Witness' (with Amanda Burton as Sam Ryan), this is different in that she's in forensics in 'Silent Witness' but is a profiler in 'Mind Games' I suppose you could also match it with 'The Bill', not character wise but in the amount of on location work shot on video around London. As I said it pretty good but I began to suspect the identity of the killer about half way through. It's still outstanding character wise and with emotions rather then some two dimensional cardboard cut out characters
Ex Catholic Nun Profiler? No seriously....
PippinInOz21 April 2011
Just finished watching this made for television film.
What a wonderfully put together contribution to the English crime / detective television genre. Fiona Shaw's ex - nun profiler is so refreshingly different and beautifully realised I am disappointed that there does not appear to be any more films utilising the same character.
If you 'enjoy' (inverted commas because still not convinced that this is the correct word to describe precisely why quite a few of us out there watch these programmes - Grimms Fairy Tales for Adults maybe??) the English style of Police Investigation programme, along the same lines as 'Prime Suspect' then do give this a go because you won't be disappointed.
Also, how brilliant to watch a main character (Fiona Shaw's Frances O'Neil), a published profiler, carry out her investigations with such quiet humility. Makes a change from the ranting, 'I know I'm right!' egotism and unchecked police brutality of Boyd from 'Waking the Dead' and the UK's version of 'Touching Evil' where Robson Green's lead character exerts similar ego and scene stealing antics. Not an insult to these two programmes, just useful examples.
The 8/10 is within the context of the post Prime Suspect English police drama - high praise indeed!
What a wonderfully put together contribution to the English crime / detective television genre. Fiona Shaw's ex - nun profiler is so refreshingly different and beautifully realised I am disappointed that there does not appear to be any more films utilising the same character.
If you 'enjoy' (inverted commas because still not convinced that this is the correct word to describe precisely why quite a few of us out there watch these programmes - Grimms Fairy Tales for Adults maybe??) the English style of Police Investigation programme, along the same lines as 'Prime Suspect' then do give this a go because you won't be disappointed.
Also, how brilliant to watch a main character (Fiona Shaw's Frances O'Neil), a published profiler, carry out her investigations with such quiet humility. Makes a change from the ranting, 'I know I'm right!' egotism and unchecked police brutality of Boyd from 'Waking the Dead' and the UK's version of 'Touching Evil' where Robson Green's lead character exerts similar ego and scene stealing antics. Not an insult to these two programmes, just useful examples.
The 8/10 is within the context of the post Prime Suspect English police drama - high praise indeed!
Intelligent Thriller
ladymidath15 August 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Fiona Shaw is excellent as the ex nun, Frances O'Neil who is now a profiler. She is brought on to help solve a case involving the violent murders of a couple of women.
Now I have to admit, the first time I started watching it. I found it so slow, I ended up turning it off after ten minutes. I decided to give it another try as I do enjoy British thrillers and I like Fiona Shaw as an actress. So after preserving with it, I was rewarded with a pretty good crime thriller. Yes, the beginning is a little slow but it is a very cerebral movie that does not rush you through it/ The only gripe I have was towards the end when one of the actors performance became so over the top, it reached narm levels. If you can ignore that, you will be rewarded with an entertaining thriller.
Now I have to admit, the first time I started watching it. I found it so slow, I ended up turning it off after ten minutes. I decided to give it another try as I do enjoy British thrillers and I like Fiona Shaw as an actress. So after preserving with it, I was rewarded with a pretty good crime thriller. Yes, the beginning is a little slow but it is a very cerebral movie that does not rush you through it/ The only gripe I have was towards the end when one of the actors performance became so over the top, it reached narm levels. If you can ignore that, you will be rewarded with an entertaining thriller.
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