10/10
A gripping, edge-of-the-seat murder mystery
3 December 1999
Warning: Spoilers
From the moment this film opens, it grabs hold of you and never lets go till the final frame. A woman who we later find out is Katie Griffin, drives to a police station and tells the police that there has been a car crash, and that a woman has been killed. She thinks that her lover, the man she had an affair with for the last eight months, has killed his wife so he could inherit his wife's money, and marry her. She thinks he must have tampered with her car, to make it go off the road.

The wife is not actually dead, but in a coma. Her husband is a writer, and teaches a ten-week writing course. The police confront him and escort him to the hospital. His story is that they never had an affair, that she was just an obsessive student of his, in love with him and making a terrible nuisance of herself. If the car was tampered with to kill the wife, then she would have done it out of jealousy.

Both their stories fit all the known facts. Their descriptions of events differ, but they both talk about the same events. The audience is kept guessing all the way through. Which one of their stories is true? Although many murder mysteries use artificial devices to keep the audience guessing, this brilliantly-written, brilliantly-directed film does it only with utterly believable, appropriate plot and character development.

Near the end, when Katie hands over photos to the detective, the truth is revealed. But although the detective now knows the truth, the audience doesn't actually see what's in those photos until the very satisfying, yet very surprising, end. If you love murder mysteries, and you love good films, this would certainly be one of the best you'll ever see.
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