This isn't a terrible film, it's just not really noteworthy in any way. It sort of reminds me of a made for cable movie that you'd find diverting enough to watch in bed on a rainy afternoon relaxing. Fiennes plays a mysterious mountain climber and public figure named Adam that Alice (Graham) starts a whirlwind, passionate affair with and then makes a hasty marriage to him. Then she starts getting anonymous missives of an increasingly alarming nature telling her she's in danger from her new husband. The chemistry is palpable between the leads and the sense of danger is very Hitchcockian, but I early on guessed, of course, the husband isn't the villain. Eventually it is revealed his seemingly uber cool sister, Deborah, has been dispatching her brother's romantic interests one way or another for some time (scaring some off, causing some to disappear and even causing one to die in an accident she orchestrated) while he had no idea. Her motive for the madness is based on a brief time they had an incestuous sexual relationship as teens. She eventually tries to kidnap Alice after revealing the body of one of her brother's ex girlfriends (who she, Deborah, murdered), is stopped by Adam and then killed by Alice in the struggle. Inexplicably, Adam is enraged at his wife following the ordeal and divorces her, the two only seeing each other accidentally one other time years later in passing and don't speak. Frankly, I couldn't understand Adam's rage and complete ghosting of a wife he claimed to be insanely in love with when he could plainly see his sister's madness and relentless secret manipulations caused the whole thing AND he played a part, too, by never being completely candid with Alice. I mean, when Alice runs to the police, barefoot, in the middle of the night thinking Adam might attack her (based on an anonymous, fabricated communique by Deborah), Adam is seen to be profoundly worried about her being out in the cold. Then she almost dies at the hands of his insane sister a short time later and he just shrugs and walks away from the marriage without a qualm? Shaky plotting.
The intimate scenes are highly charged, but once you get to the end and realize all the heat amounted to nothing but being the victim of an attempted murder and sadness for Alice, it's all kind of a waste of time.
The intimate scenes are highly charged, but once you get to the end and realize all the heat amounted to nothing but being the victim of an attempted murder and sadness for Alice, it's all kind of a waste of time.