I'm not entirely sure that this sleek and classy Italian psychological thriller plays fair with its audience. But I'm even less sure that if I watched it a dozen times I'd be able to spot the moments when it cheated.
No matter. It's a highly polished chinese puzzle of amystery that is easier to follow than to solve and it features a couple of pitch-perfect performances, both of which sustain the possibility that a character could be a villain without realising the fact.
Rappoport plays Sonia, a Slovenian chambermaid in a Turin hotel.
At a speed-dating evening she meets the shy and lonely Guido (Timi) who, we will soon learn, was a cop and is now a security guard. From that point on we are sure about pretty much nothing. A crime occurs, one character is killed, another injured, both are suspect and then, about the film's mid-point, we are asked to re-evaluate everything we've been watching through an entirely different prism.
This summary is intentionally obscure but, oddly, the film isn't. Tantalisingly ambiguous and playful, it's like a blend of Hitchcock and the Coens (though there's no black humour here, the edgy soundtrack keeps the tension up).
The attentive viewer may want to keep an eye out for a red bedspread and study closely a priest who keeps showing up. It may also be useful to wonder why a Slovenian emigrant to Turin is teaching herself Spanish. It won't explain everything but it will add to the thrill of an entertaining ride.
Stars: 4/5 Cast: Ksenia Rappoport, Filippo Timi, Antonia Truppo, Gaetano Bruno, Fausto Russo Director: Giuseppe Capotondi Running time: 95 mins Rating: R16 (violence, sex scenes, suicide) In Italian with English subtitles Verdict: Mind games
