This could have been a gripping thriller along the lines of A Perfect Murder, keeping the audience guessing until the flip at the end.
Instead, we get drawn-out scenes showing the protagonist Anne being belittled by a misogynistic boss, frustrated by a lazy co-worker who is valued more than she is, mistreated by a guy she hooks up with via a dating app, and intimidated by an aggressive neighborhood jogger. All these scenes with two-dimensional male stereotypes are interspersed with scenes featuring a psychologist who tries to get her to dig deeper into herself to discover the truth of why she's in the hospital, and scenes of her best girlfriend expounding on how she keeps her married sex life spicy.
The idea is good, and the themes of the still-existing glass ceiling and the subjugation of women are relevant. But I can't help but feel they could have been written with more depth and more connection to the actual crime that isn't revealed until the very end. Had we known more about what had happened, the other issues would have been more compelling, and perhaps the male characters wouldn't have been such shallow, cookie-cutter stereotypes.
I applaud the attempt to address the very real issue of partner abuse as it affects women in our society. I only wish it wasn't so shallow and ham-handed.
Instead, we get drawn-out scenes showing the protagonist Anne being belittled by a misogynistic boss, frustrated by a lazy co-worker who is valued more than she is, mistreated by a guy she hooks up with via a dating app, and intimidated by an aggressive neighborhood jogger. All these scenes with two-dimensional male stereotypes are interspersed with scenes featuring a psychologist who tries to get her to dig deeper into herself to discover the truth of why she's in the hospital, and scenes of her best girlfriend expounding on how she keeps her married sex life spicy.
The idea is good, and the themes of the still-existing glass ceiling and the subjugation of women are relevant. But I can't help but feel they could have been written with more depth and more connection to the actual crime that isn't revealed until the very end. Had we known more about what had happened, the other issues would have been more compelling, and perhaps the male characters wouldn't have been such shallow, cookie-cutter stereotypes.
I applaud the attempt to address the very real issue of partner abuse as it affects women in our society. I only wish it wasn't so shallow and ham-handed.