ID:A - Identity Anonymous - DVD

Film: A woman (Tuva Novotny) wakes up somewhere in the south of France in a cold riverbed with no memory of who she is or how she got there. A fresh scar on her stomach, a duffel bag full of money and a gun are as much of a mystery to her as the men who are apparently stalking her. There was an assassination near where she came to a short time before. Is she involved in it? In her search for the truth, she finds out that she is from Denmark, is called Ida and is married to a famous singer. Back home, she finds a stable, luxurious façade, but soon realizes that behind the façade of the happy couple, there is a major crisis. And slowly a picture comes together that brings Ida closer and closer to the shocking truth - and puts her in mortal danger once again...

ID:A starts out like the female version of The Bourne Identity, but it doesn't take long for this Scandinavian thriller to go its own way. That's because the Bourne ingredients are mixed in with a dash of marital psychodrama a la The Enemy in My Bed, a bit of conspiracy thriller and, of course, a hefty helping of typical Nordic crime. Director Christian E. Christiansen, who recently disappointed with the rather unsurprising US thriller The Roommate, has proven to have a much better knack for suspense with ID:A. The story has a lot going for it from the beginning. From the accomplished opening, the story has a charged atmosphere that still provides a pleasing level of tension even in the quieter moments.

Lead actress Tuva Novotny, last seen in the wonderful comedy The Truth About Men, gives a convincing performance as the woman with no memory, lacking only a certain strength in some scenes that might have made her character a little more interesting. However, it is also understandable why she has to take on a certain victim role for at least a while during the course of the story. Even though this aspect of the movie isn't completely uninteresting from a psychological point of view, this is where the whole thing loses a little bit of its tension and is clearly slowed down. And even if it may be coherent in terms of content, the entertainment value is not really conducive to this tension brake.

On the end, however, the thriller picks up speed again significantly and even has a little action to offer. This is more than solidly staged in terms of craftsmanship and also manages to hook the viewer back into the story. Even if the resolution and the finale have turned out somewhat disappointing, in the end a positive overall picture prevails, by which for this film at least for lovers of Scandinavian dark thriller fare a clear recommendation can be pronounced: Worth seeing!

Image + Sound: The image of the DVD has a good overall sharpness, coherent black levels and neatly matched contrasts. Although there are always minor weak points to discover in the dark moments, but overall a positive impression prevails. This also applies to the sound. In the more action-packed scenes, a few good effects make good use of the surround channels, which turns out a bit more powerful on the DTS track than on the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. Even in the quieter moments, the sound is able to convince with the dialogue being mixed in a well intelligible manner. Good!

Extras: Except for the trailer for the film and other program tips from the provider, there are unfortunately no other extras on the DVD.

Conclusion: ID:A is a decent thriller from Denmark, which mixes many familiar ingredients into an entertaining whole. At times, this mixture can not quite convince, but exciting and atmospheric the film is all the same. On the DVD, the conspiracy thriller presents itself in good picture and sound quality, only in terms of bonus material it looks a bit lukewarm. Nevertheless: For lovers of Scandinavian crime fare despite minor hangs quite recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp