By Roger Moore
Three of the best actors in the business put on a master class in mystery thriller in “Before I Go to Sleep,” a lean, twisty-turning tale in the “Memento” style.
Christine (Nicole Kidman) wakes up each day confused. She has lost 20 years – a bad accident, she is told – and every night when she dozes off she loses that day’s memories as well.
“Before I Go to Sleep” hangs on Kidman’s intimate performance. She whispers, girlishly, shocked at being told she had an affair, puzzled that the two men in her life give her differing versions of how she lost her memory. At the beginning of each day, she is passive, naive and trusting. She gets into the car of the man who calls himself her doctor (Mark Strong) without question.
But as the days progress and the story advances, she becomes assertive, questioning and suspicious. Some days, she suspects the husband (Colin Firth) of manipulating her. Some days, the doctor.