Leave it to Patricia Highsmith to come up with implausible plots that somehow seem so possible. Based on her novel THE BLUNDERER, Susan Boyd has adapted this complex novel for the screen and Andy Goddard directs.
Walter Stackhouse (Patrick Wilson) is a rich, successful architect/writer unhappily married to the beautiful but mentally damaged Clara (Jessica Biel). His desire to be free of her feeds his obsession with Kimmel (Eddie Marsan), a man suspected of brutally murdering his own wife outside the Rainbow Grill, a bus/truck stop out on the road. But when Clara is found dead in suspicious circumstances, Walter's string of lies and his own guilty thoughts (he has become involved with a young singer Ellie – played well by Haley Bennett) seem enough to condemn him. As his life becomes dangerously entwined with Kimmel's, a ruthless cop, Detective Corby (Vincent Kartheiser) is increasingly convinced he has found a copycat killer in Walter and aims to nail both murderers. The denouement stops a bit cold and the last portion of the story seems more than slightly implausible, but the turns the story takes make it a very classy thriller.
Another aspect of the film that works well is the sets and costumes (vintage cars, crinolines, excessive smoking, etc) that clearly place this film in the 1960s. Even the selection of music by Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans enhances the atmosphere. The fittingly dark atmosphere is well established by cinematographer by Chris Seager. For pure noir thriller in the vein of Patricia Highsmith's plot development this is a strong film that could be stronger with some significant editing.
Walter Stackhouse (Patrick Wilson) is a rich, successful architect/writer unhappily married to the beautiful but mentally damaged Clara (Jessica Biel). His desire to be free of her feeds his obsession with Kimmel (Eddie Marsan), a man suspected of brutally murdering his own wife outside the Rainbow Grill, a bus/truck stop out on the road. But when Clara is found dead in suspicious circumstances, Walter's string of lies and his own guilty thoughts (he has become involved with a young singer Ellie – played well by Haley Bennett) seem enough to condemn him. As his life becomes dangerously entwined with Kimmel's, a ruthless cop, Detective Corby (Vincent Kartheiser) is increasingly convinced he has found a copycat killer in Walter and aims to nail both murderers. The denouement stops a bit cold and the last portion of the story seems more than slightly implausible, but the turns the story takes make it a very classy thriller.
Another aspect of the film that works well is the sets and costumes (vintage cars, crinolines, excessive smoking, etc) that clearly place this film in the 1960s. Even the selection of music by Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans enhances the atmosphere. The fittingly dark atmosphere is well established by cinematographer by Chris Seager. For pure noir thriller in the vein of Patricia Highsmith's plot development this is a strong film that could be stronger with some significant editing.