Death and the Maiden (1994)

Directed by Roman Polanski. Starring Sigourney Weaver, Ben Kingsley, Stuart Wilson. [R]

In an unspecified South American country, a chance encounter between a political activist (Weaver) and a doctor (Kingsley) leads to a night of bondage, threats, violence, and confession as she’s convinced that this is the same man who repeatedly tortured and raped her for weeks under the previous regime. Moody and menacing psychological thriller is short on subtlety, and isn’t as tightly-controlled as it should have been—despite the cramped confines and short space of time, the sometimes-stagy pic meanders a little during the mid-section—but has a good hook, oodles of chilly tension, and serves as a fine acting showcase for its three-character drama (the third being Weaver’s husband, played by Wilson, who’s caught in the middle, and doesn’t share his wife’s rage, anguish, and certainty to escalate things the way she does). Weaver has the most challenging role, and aside from the occasional slip into histrionics, delivers a gripping and anxiously credible performance. Scripted by Ariel Dorfman and Rafael Yglesias from the former’s stage play. Title refers to a Franz Schubert string quartet piece that’s heard several times throughout.

75/100