Is Parillaud a newly-wed who dreams of
being a hit-woman, or the other way round? That's the core issue in this
confusing, yet generally intriguing psycho-thriller, where characters from
one side pop up on the other in different roles (Baldwin plays her husband in one,
and also a contract target) and there's very little to clue you in to
"reality". Ruiz seems to have a fondness for dream-like reveries: here, he
switches things around like a cinematic version of the three-card trick,
and your head will spin. Parillaud does the schizophrenic babe role
well, she's especially fine as the assassin, having done that sort of thing
before, but look out for the freaky conversation with herself. The
honeymoon stuff is less enthralling, and takes longer to kick into action
-- once it established the basic premises, it wanders round without making
much ground for a while. Don't worry, it does all get explained at the end,
although I'd need a second viewing before commenting on how credible it
is. Pay attention, and you'll get much more out of this.
B