I. May. Not. Sleep

It's the same game every day: When Christine Lucas (Nicole Kidman) wakes up, she can't remember anything. Her surroundings are as foreign to her as her husband Ben (Colin Firth). Again and again Ben has to tell her about their life together, a life that has been completely erased since a tragic car accident. For Christine suffers from psychogenic amnesia, which has caused her to forget everything that has happened in recent years. And she can't retain new memories either. As if this realization wasn't disturbing enough, Christine also receives a call from neuropsychologist Dr. Nash (Mark Strong), who explains that he has been working with her for some time to restore her memory. Ben doesn't know about this because, as Christine learns from a video diary she keeps herself every night, she fears Ben is hiding some secrets from her - secrets about her accident, her illness, and her marriage. Can she even trust her own husband? Or is Dr. Nash playing a false game with her?

I. May. Don't. Sleep feels at the outset like a more dramatic version of the Adam Sandler/Drew Barrymore comedy 50 First Dates. There are obvious parallels between the two films' starting points. But after a few minutes, it becomes clear that the directorial effort by Rowan Joffe (Brighton Rock), based on a novel by S.J. Watson, is going its own way and quickly turns into a solid thriller. It works really well in the first half, too. Joffe builds an extremely oppressive atmosphere in which the viewer can easily identify with Christine, as you are just as ignorant here as she is.

Nicole Kidman conveys the mixture of fear, curiosity and confusion she feels every day very believably. So too does Colin Firth, who previously starred in the drama I. May. Don't. Sleep alongside Kidman, is convincing as a caring husband with a mysterious side. Mark Strong completes the well-chosen trio of actors perfectly. In addition to the actors, the atmospheric camerawork and moody music are among the successful aspects of this thriller. The story, despite some very predictable twists, is overall very suspenseful and the final twist is quite effectively executed.

Overall, Joffe has directed some really solid suspense cinema that deserves a clear worth watching until about the 80th minute. Even some arguably cliched moments can't change that. But then Joffe adds a last scene to the finale, which is so incredibly thick that it destroys the positive overall impression in the long run. The story is actually predestined for a really vicious ending. The fact that the makers didn't have the courage to do so isn't really that bad. But the fact that instead of an uncompromising ending, they go for a completely over-the-top kitschfest is just annoying and just doesn't do the rest of the film justice.

Surely I. May. Don't. Sleep doesn't become a total disaster as a result. If you like solid thriller-dramas and appreciate atmospheric suspense cinema, yes, you'll be well entertained until said scene. But since here the potential for a really effective conclusion, which remains in the viewer's memory, is given away in such a way, remains a really bland aftertaste, which allows the bottom line then only a with cutbacks worth seeing.

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp