This quasi-romantic Italian thriller begins with a woman in a Turin hotel room. When the maid comes, the woman tells her to come in and makes a comment about her hair. But the guest, who commits suicide, is not the main character; the maid is. This minor deflection of our attention presages the plot as a whole, which begins with a meeting at a speed-dating session. The gentleman who most intrigues the woman, a security guard, seems kind but distant, and an unlikely tragedy seems to end the romance just as it begins. The unusual, contradictory events that follow are satisfactorily, yet unsatisfyingly, explained by a plot twist that may be guessed by some. And then there is a smart third act, which recontextualizes clues from the second. It becomes clear before then that we really don't know about either of these characters. And so the thrills exceed the romance. If it were a novel, it’d be a page turner, though.
viewed 5/24/11 at Ritz 5 and reviewed 5/25/11
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