“Before I Go to Sleep” provides suspense, but lacks character development

Justin Watts
Staff Writer

Before I Go To Sleep’s suspenseful story may not rocket viewers to the edge of their seat, but it’s hardly a snooze.

Based on the best selling novel written by S.J. Watson, “Before I Go To Sleep,” directed by Rowan Joffe, is an exciting, suspenseful and mysterious thriller about Christine Lucas (Nicole Kidman) who lost her memory due to a tragic car accident. She wakes up each morning, next to her husband (Colin Firth), with little to no memory of the last 20 years.

Christine works to regain her memory with the help from Dr. Nash (Mark Strong) by trying different memory-gaining method, such as self-daily video journals. As the movie progresses, Christine begins to regain her memory bit by bit and realizes the horrible truth to why she lost all her memory.

This movie’s poor character development throughout the film makes this movie no better than any other thriller movie. Due to the fact that every morning Christine has to be reminded about whom she is and where she is, this movie does a poor job of developing each character because there is no development to be taken place.

The atmosphere does not stand out to the viewers due to poor setting in which the movie takes place. Taking place in Christine’s house the majority of the movie, this movie’s setting and atmosphere becomes quickly repetitive because there is not much setting to the movie besides a few bedrooms.

However, this film succeeds with its intriguing storyline and plot progression. As the movie continues, the audience begins to know more about Christine than she does herself because of her memory loss.

Although the overall story was very intriguing, it was quite difficult to follow at some points. For example, in the beginning the movie introduces Christine by showing her reaction to photos from herself in the past. This is confusing because the audience never fully gets a chance to learn about Christine because it feels like the movie restarts each morning when Christine forgets about her past.

Overall, “Before I Go To Sleep” is an entertaining movie that keeps viewers wondering what will happen next, but lacks character development. The good’s and bad’s of this movie end up equaling out, making it no better than another thriller.

“Before I Go To Sleep” is rated R and is playing in theaters nationwide.