A woman wakes up every day, remembering nothing as a result of a traumatic accident in her past. One day, new terrifying truths emerge that force her to question everyone around her.
Before I Go To Sleep is chiefly a grand manipulation with just about enough clever twists to keep you, if not on the edge of your seat, at least happily alert, guessing along with the plot.
Promises an exploration of memory and its relationship with identity but in the main delivers only superficial, yet admittedly stylish, thrills.
Strong performances keep the viewer guessing as much as our heroine, but the character drama recedes as the thriller element builds, to its detriment.
A handsome thriller, absorbing for its duration and with a couple of neat rug-pulls. But expect a strong sense of déjà vu – you’d be better off reliving Memento.
Before I Go to Sleep is at its most preposterous precisely when it is trying its hardest to be serious.
Best we all just pretend like this never happened and move on.
It aims for sexy and/or dangerous, but the tone is dry and the pace lags.
A rousing, blood and thunder mystery that works even better if you have yet to read the book.
The film's misdirections are clumsy and telegraphed, such that Christine isn't so much living in an unfamiliar world as an illogical one.
Before I Go To Sleep could largely be written off as “Memento for morons” if that didn’t imply there was some fun to be had watching Nicole Kidman negotiating the silliness of the premise.
It's solidly superficial. But it's an enjoyable shaggy dog story with a twist that will leave you with the strange feeling that you've seen all this before, even if you can't quite remember where.
A decent thriller.
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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