Video: Passion Of Mind

Herald rating:* *

Running time: 105 mins

Rental: Today

Review: Ewan McDonald


When Marie is asleep in France, Marty is awake in New York. When Marty is asleep in New York, Marie is awake in France.

Both women are played by Demi Moore in a movie that was clearly intended to relaunch her career, post-Bruce Willis, as A Serious Actress (oh, you mean Striptease wasn't a multi-layered exploration of the motivations of the post-modern career woman?)

Marty/Marie has two personalities and two shrinks. She needs them because she doesn't know which life is real and which is a dream. In France, she leads a quiet life as a book reviewer and mother of two daughters. In New York, she's a powerful literary agent who dedicates her life to her career.

In France, she meets the sensitive William Leeds (Stellan Skarsgard). In New York, she meets the almost obsessive Aaron Reilly (William Fichtner). Both love her. Marty and Marie are aware of the other and what is happening in the other's life.

Which leads to another problem: Marie/Marty won't let one spend the night, because "if someone were to be with me and wake me up, something bad might happen." Oh yes, it certainly could.

The plot is full of holes. Maybe Marie should just ring Marty and ask what the heck is going on. If she doesn't answer she must be the dream character. Oh no, hang on, if Marie is the dream character she couldn't ... now I'm falling into this black hole.

Nice to see the French countryside, nice to be reminded about director Alain Berliner's previous witty movie, Ma Vie en Rose, about a French boy who wanted to be a girl. But Passion Of Mind is really just another romantic drama, told in a rather clunky style, without a punchline, more of a putdown.