Before I Go to Sleep is a British mystery thriller written and directed by Rowan Joffe and stars Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth and Mark Strong. The film centres on Kidman's character Christine, a middle aged woman who wakes up every morning with no memory of her life from her 20's onwards. Her husband Ben (Colin Firth) has the endless task of telling Christine who is he is, what happened to her and why she has amnesia. She also receives a mysterious phone call everyday from a Dr Nash (Mark Strong) who explains that she has been the subject of a brutal attack and tells her to keep a secret video diary so that she can remember the events of the previous day and hopefully re-jog her memory to find out who was responsible for the attack. She has the task of trying to decipher her flashbacks and figure out who ultimately is telling the truth.

This film on paper had plenty of potential. Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth were both central characters in The Railway Man which came out in January this year and they showed effortless chemistry. They both however had a couple of big stinkers this year, which I had the pleasure of seeing. Kidman starred in Grace of Monaco, which was the aftermath of a wild house party and Firth starred in the most boring film I've witness for a long time, Devils Knot. Happily this film is far more interesting and entertaining. The film's visual style fits the mystery genre mold perfectly. It looks exceedingly grey and depressing, creating a very bleak atmosphere which parallels Christine's situation. Her character is in a difficult situation hence her shaken personality and tentativeness which Kidman expressed really well. She does cry for about 75% of the film but it doesn't feel melodramatic and that's where her experience showed. The only upside to her amnesia is that when she does wake up every morning, she's next to Colin Firth which if you're a female isn't too bad I guess! Firth and Mark Strong both gave shifty performances so it kept me guessing who to believe as the story unraveled. It was a side of Colin Firth that I haven't seen before and it showed how much depth he has as an actor. I'm a big fan of Mark Strong. He has a menacing on screen presence and it's easy to see why American studios always seem to cast him as the villain. I'm sure he's a decent bloke in real life but he does look like if you got on the wrong side of him he'd rip your face off. Overall all three were terrific and they enhanced on what was a very average script.

When eventually the film hits the climax, it's a big shift in pace that definitely caught me off guard. The film is in cruise control for the majority of the second act which wasn't slow by any means. But when the villain is finally revealed, the film's pace goes into overdrive and I thought that initially was a clever move. It's from that point onwards however that the film starts to scratch heads. To put it bluntly, the way that Christine's attack is explained and how she got it into the situation that she's in, is absurd and absolutely barmy. I'd love to explain how it happens but I don't want to spoil the plot. It's mental. Did that detracted me from enjoying this film? Not really. You won't be annoyed by the reveal. Instead you'll be in disbelief and in a good way. Like a crazy magic trick that you can't get your head around. There are a few plot holes that you can easily pick on and for a mystery thriller that's a problem because you want everything to be explained at the end and the film doesn't quite do that fully.

Before I Go to Sleep thankfully has no irony attached to it. A fun film that has a good pace and intriguing plot along with quality all round performances. It's not a masterpiece and not that original but it certainly has entertaining moments and twists which will keep you guessing. A good rainy day film if you've got nothing else better to do.

7/10