Under Suspicion

By NEIL NORMAN, Evening Standard

Loosely based on the French film Garde A Vue, this leaden piece of work looks very much like an actors' vanity project. Moving the "action" from provincial France to Puerto Rico may have seemed a way of injecting a little local colour into the dour proceedings but it just doesn't happen on screen.

Basically, Under Suspicion is an extended interrogation. Like a variation of Sydney Lumet's The Offence - a far superior movie - it deals with the murder of a young girl (or girls, in this case) and the sub-sequent psychological duel between the troubled police captain Victor Benezet (Morgan Freeman) and his chief suspect, wealthy tax lawyer Henry Hearst (Gene Hack-man).

Given Hearst's social standing in the community, not to mention his marriage to the exquisite Chantal (Monica Bellucci), 30 years his junior, there is plenty of scope for jealousy and hidden agendas which are duly aired in the pedestrian script.

Freeman and Hackman are considerably talented actors and they indulge themselves to the limit; but Thomas Jane (as a volatile detective) and Bellucci should be hung out to dry for performances which fail to convince on every level.

The real culprit, however, is director Stephen Hopkins, who simply cannot allow the story to unfold but dresses it up with tricksy flashbacks, arty editing and unnecessary obfuscation. He encourages his actors in adhering to two modes: flatline sardonic or melodramatic hysteria.

Frankly, it's a mess. Whatever elements of mystery and psychological conflict that may have fuelled the concept of unravelling personalities, hidden personal histories and dark sexual proclivities are lost in a welter of wretched dialogue, infelicitous editing and truly dreadful acting.

My production notes read: "Under Suspicion takes place during one seemingly endless, rain-soaked evening ... " For once, a publicist writes the truth.

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