Giuseppe Capotondi’s amusing, at times clever suspense thriller is a combination of the best of Alfred Hitchcock and the worst of Brian De Palma. De Palma is a brilliant but frustrating filmmaker who can be genius one film and fall dangerously off the rails another (and every once in a while pull off both) and Capotondi’s film nearly mimics the great director of Blow Out and Dressed to Kill by going a little too Raising Cain in the end.
It’s entirely possible I did not fully understand this twisty thriller and I take no shame in it. Especially considering it will likely keep any viewer on their toes, not to mention confuse more than a handful when it’s all over. I’m going to discuss as little of the plot as possible because it’s one of those movies where the less you know, the better. But I will tell you the film essentially begins with Sonia (Kseniya Rappoport), a lonely hotel maid and Guido (Filippo Timi), an ex-cop now working in security, meeting through a speed-dating service, a place, Guido admits, is for suckers (since there are so many choices you are liable to make the wrong one). As they get ready to go home (with each other), Guido takes notice of the time: 23:23, the mystical double hour where wishes may be made and granted. Sonia asks Guido if it actually works. He considers her for a moment before responding, “No.” This is a significant scene and I have my own theory as to what this moment means but Capotondi and his writers certainly leave this response and the film open to interpretation.
Guido and Sonia begin an affair and the actors chemistry must be commended. These are two damaged people and their romance feels sincere, even required within their universe. Things take a turn from here. A crime occurs. There is a death. One of our leads is under suspicion by the authorities. Soon, ghosts begin appearing in security cameras or heard submerged in bath tubs. And then, a good hour into the film, when the first major twist is revealed, the fun really begins.
This is a movie that could have easily overwhelmed its audience but there is no questioning director Giuseppe Capotondi’s control on the material here. I question only the choices made in the last act and here I must warn that, while I may not be going into any specifics, I may be hinting at some possible spoilers in the coming paragraphs. This is unavoidable if I wish to discuss — even on a completely cryptic level — my problem with the movie. Yes, I will be as cryptic as I can, but you are warned nonetheless.
While I found The Double Hour to be a thoroughly engrossing film, I must confess it lost me completely in the closing moments where we are meant to second-guess everything that has transpired (for the second time). In most cases, I would welcome this sort of magic act. The problem is the audience has already been second-guessing everything from the start. Any intuitive movie goer will know in the opening five minutes that not everything must be as it appears (even the film’s poster proclaims Nothing is what it seems). And that is part of the fun, to see where it all leads, to go down that rabbit hole.
There’s a price to be paid with strong storytelling, however. Along the way I couldn’t help but feel fondness for these characters, particularly Timi’s Guido and his romantic affair with the excellent Rappoport’s Sonia. And in the end, the film does these characters a disservice by insinuating (perhaps) everything we have witnessed; the romance, various emotional and physical crimes, the themes of trust and making wrong choices… may all in fact be meaningless with no real payoff for anyone involved. It’s a trick, but an empty one. Or… not. This film may be full of twists but it doesn’t pull off a strong or original enough final act to get away with something like that. Here’s an American remake I’d actually look forward to.
Grade: C+
