Running time: 111 minutes
Starring: Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman,
Thomas Jane, Monica Bellucci
Rating 6 out of 10
Neither truth nor characters are what they first seem in this psychological thriller based on the 1981 potboiler Garde A Vue.
Rumour and inference cast a long shadow over the players' motives and intentions, while testimony is riddled with inconsistencies. At its centre, Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman spar in a verbal boxing match, with one bent on exposing the sickening truth and the other on concealing it.
Puerto Rican police captain Victor Benezet (Freeman) asks tax attorney Henry Hearst (Hackman) to help with inquiries of the rape and murder of a young girl on the island, the third such incident in a month. Hearst found the last victim's body out on a mid-afternoon run, but several points in his police statement do not quite add up.
As soon as Benezet clears up the irregularities, Hearst can return to his gala dinner, where his beautiful young wife Chantal (Monica Bellucci) awaits. But a five-minute chat between two old friends escalates into a night of fierce interrogation and cross-examination.
Behind the closed doors of the interview room, the two men duel to the bitter finish, neither willing to give an inch.
Nothing whets an audience's appetite quite like a showdown between two heavyweight actors, and Under Suspicion doesn't disappoint. It engineers a series of fractious dialogues allowing Hackman and Freeman to flex their acting biceps and command the screen.
Hackman is especially impressive, showing great vulnerability when his character is under the greatest pressure. His performance is deeply moving, but also crackles with his trademark ranting and raving.
Bellucci is alluring and sensual, highlighting the wife's insecurities and emotionally instability, and Thomas Jane's fireball detective is the perfect foil for Freeman's silent but cunning interrogator.
Stephen Hopkins's direction of the interrogation room scenes is minimal - he need do little more than point the camera at the actors.
But he displays brio in the flashbacks which intercut Hearst's testimony, replaying the discovery of the body until the truth finally surfaces.
Rumour and inference cast a long shadow over the players' motives and intentions, while testimony is riddled with inconsistencies. At its centre, Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman spar in a verbal boxing match, with one bent on exposing the sickening truth and the other on concealing it.
Puerto Rican police captain Victor Benezet (Freeman) asks tax attorney Henry Hearst (Hackman) to help with inquiries of the rape and murder of a young girl on the island, the third such incident in a month. Hearst found the last victim's body out on a mid-afternoon run, but several points in his police statement do not quite add up.
As soon as Benezet clears up the irregularities, Hearst can return to his gala dinner, where his beautiful young wife Chantal (Monica Bellucci) awaits. But a five-minute chat between two old friends escalates into a night of fierce interrogation and cross-examination.
Behind the closed doors of the interview room, the two men duel to the bitter finish, neither willing to give an inch.
Nothing whets an audience's appetite quite like a showdown between two heavyweight actors, and Under Suspicion doesn't disappoint. It engineers a series of fractious dialogues allowing Hackman and Freeman to flex their acting biceps and command the screen.
Hackman is especially impressive, showing great vulnerability when his character is under the greatest pressure. His performance is deeply moving, but also crackles with his trademark ranting and raving.
Bellucci is alluring and sensual, highlighting the wife's insecurities and emotionally instability, and Thomas Jane's fireball detective is the perfect foil for Freeman's silent but cunning interrogator.
Stephen Hopkins's direction of the interrogation room scenes is minimal - he need do little more than point the camera at the actors.
But he displays brio in the flashbacks which intercut Hearst's testimony, replaying the discovery of the body until the truth finally surfaces.
